Don't have a problem with the advertising; as it's all sensible income generation for the club, and in my opinion, isn't obtrusive. Don't like the 'live' showing of the match though. Echo the thoughts on here of having squad names, numbers, goals and bookings.
I doubt if there is much income generation as such - as far as I can recall all the ads have been house ads, really just reiteration of existing commercial messages, and plugs to add value to existing sponsorship deals. You can make an argument around the benefits of repeatedly telling people they can save 10p on a pie and a pint, but I doubt if it merits the opportunity cost.
The club is basically incapable of selling advertising per se and has been for as long as I can remember, with the exception being some ground boards that generate TV exposure. As a revenue stream, programme and big-screen advertising will be virtually non-existent. I don't think there is any market for it. so I am not blaming anyone. It's just the assumption that the advertising matters on the screen is almost certainly wrong.
The banner and big screen adverts do bring in revenue for the club and there's more adverts which are external companies than in house.
Current adverts on the banner :
Bishop printers Bulldog energy drink WJ King Titan lifts ITRM Regular cleaners Home/Away shirt (technically Just Sport/Nike adverts)
In house ads on the screen Season tickets Mascots 2 x Kiosk adverts
As you must know, Steve, most if not all of those are sponsors, box holders and suppliers - advertising is something that gets lumped into deals to add value because it has no real cost. The value is questionable and can be debated, as with a lot of the club's commercial deals, which are wholly sensible - I did many of them for programme ads and the figures on both sides were notional - but it would be hard to say that the club truthfully receives £x just for screen advertising, whatever is in the deals.
Correct some of them are box holders, suppliers etc but the big screen adverts have been sold separately to their packages, meaning it is extra income for the club.
showing the game 'live' on the screen is just totally pointless, cut to highlights of goals etc if you want to but other than that, show the score / time / teams in a big enough font
Agree totally. Also when they cut in for adverts like they did before they would be on the whole screen & people would be able to read them too.
I sent an email to George Jones of the Club's Press Office on the subject of the Big Screen
His reply: The big screen isn’t my domain, no, but I have forwarded it on to the relevant people.
As far as I am aware, they are currently looking into some software which will enable them to add the teams to the big screen in some form.
If possible, whether that will result in the teams being permanently on the screen, as it used to be, or on occasion, I’m not sure.
I agree that half-time scores need to be larger and as someone who regularly produces the match reports I understand your preference to have the two teams with cards and substitutions, etc, listed on screen.
All feedback concerning the screen has been collected and, now that we have three weeks or so without a home game, they may have a bit of time to sit down and discuss things.
Don't have a problem with the advertising; as it's all sensible income generation for the club, and in my opinion, isn't obtrusive. Don't like the 'live' showing of the match though. Echo the thoughts on here of having squad names, numbers, goals and bookings.
I doubt if there is much income generation as such - as far as I can recall all the ads have been house ads, really just reiteration of existing commercial messages, and plugs to add value to existing sponsorship deals. You can make an argument around the benefits of repeatedly telling people they can save 10p on a pie and a pint, but I doubt if it merits the opportunity cost.
The club is basically incapable of selling advertising per se and has been for as long as I can remember, with the exception being some ground boards that generate TV exposure. As a revenue stream, programme and big-screen advertising will be virtually non-existent. I don't think there is any market for it. so I am not blaming anyone. It's just the assumption that the advertising matters on the screen is almost certainly wrong.
The banner and big screen adverts do bring in revenue for the club and there's more adverts which are external companies than in house.
Current adverts on the banner :
Bishop printers Bulldog energy drink WJ King Titan lifts ITRM Regular cleaners Home/Away shirt (technically Just Sport/Nike adverts)
In house ads on the screen Season tickets Mascots 2 x Kiosk adverts
As you must know, Steve, most if not all of those are sponsors, box holders and suppliers - advertising is something that gets lumped into deals to add value because it has no real cost. The value is questionable and can be debated, as with a lot of the club's commercial deals, which are wholly sensible - I did many of them for programme ads and the figures on both sides were notional - but it would be hard to say that the club truthfully receives £x just for screen advertising, whatever is in the deals.
Correct some of them are box holders, suppliers etc but the big screen adverts have been sold separately to their packages, meaning it is extra income for the club.
But they are still part of broader relationships in which money notionally flows both ways - no disrespect to the firms involved, who do support the club, but the real test is how far the club can attract new standalone advertising agreements and that's very difficult without TV exposure - and even with it.
showing the game 'live' on the screen is just totally pointless, cut to highlights of goals etc if you want to but other than that, show the score / time / teams in a big enough font
Agree totally. Also when they cut in for adverts like they did before they would be on the whole screen & people would be able to read them too.
Yes, thinking of the FEEEESSSSHHHHH as a good example!
Or indeed the Titan lifts advert last season, showing the "players" and manager in the lift.
As you must know, Steve, most if not all of those are sponsors, box holders and suppliers - advertising is something that gets lumped into deals to add value because it has no real cost. The value is questionable and can be debated, as with a lot of the club's commercial deals, which are wholly sensible - I did many of them for programme ads and the figures on both sides were notional - but it would be hard to say that the club truthfully receives £x just for screen advertising, whatever is in the deals.
Correct some of them are box holders, suppliers etc but the big screen adverts have been sold separately to their packages, meaning it is extra income for the club.
But they are still part of broader relationships in which money notionally flows both ways - no disrespect to the firms involved, who do support the club, but the real test is how far the club can attract new standalone advertising agreements and that's very difficult without TV exposure - and even with it.
The ill-informed might think you once worked for the club and knew what you were talking about.....
The ill-informed might think you once worked for the club and knew what you were talking about.....
The club couldn't sell any significant amount of such advertising in a stronger economy and largely pre-digital environment, when it had capacity crowds, Premier League TV exposure and a team of commercial staff who had responsibility for doing so.
At the time we were printing maybe four times as many programmes as the club does now and there were probably 18-20 pages of ads - if there was even one in any programme that actually brought in cash to the club that would have been unusual.
Anyone who thinks that is likely to have changed for the better with hardly any commercial staff and about 12,000 people in the ground for Championship football is a fantasist, I'm afraid.
I sent an email to George Jones of the Club's Press Office on the subject of the Big Screen
His reply: The big screen isn’t my domain, no, but I have forwarded it on to the relevant people.
As far as I am aware, they are currently looking into some software which will enable them to add the teams to the big screen in some form.
If possible, whether that will result in the teams being permanently on the screen, as it used to be, or on occasion, I’m not sure.
I agree that half-time scores need to be larger and as someone who regularly produces the match reports I understand your preference to have the two teams with cards and substitutions, etc, listed on screen.
All feedback concerning the screen has been collected and, now that we have three weeks or so without a home game, they may have a bit of time to sit down and discuss things.
In terms of font sizes being too small is this on the scores? This is honestly the first I've heard of it, and I've received one email today which directed me here where I saw the comments. I will look into making these larger even if we have to split them for the next match.
To disprove a few comments I keep reading, the big screen section which fans see isn't smaller than last season. The big screen has smaller edges and takes up the entire case whereas the previous one didn't, and the wider edges makes the picture a 16 x 9 dimension which is the more common video format.
In terms of live game feed we wanted to try this for the first few games and then review it from there. I will pass comments on to the relevant people making the decision to have the live game feed, and we will work on a solution which will benefit the majority of fans. I've said it a lot but we are looking into how we can get the teams on the screen in some form, it's just taking time to work out and potentially get new software built as the screen is run in a completely different way to how it was last season so it wouldn't even be a case of just grabbing the controls from last season.
Hopefully we will find a solution both in the software side and fan engagement side soon.
Oh no!!!, remember what happened last time we had new software? Royal Mail got the blame when it didn't work. Be prepared for blank screen.
sadamson84sadamson84 Member September 16 Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Hello Mr Adamson, I don't know what your role is in the Club, but we really do need someone like you to report back on what you read here. If for instance you read the comments after the Huddersfield game you will see that there are a lot of intelligent and intuitive people on this site, and the management would do well to note the opinions that are expressed.
When they had the 11th minute tribute at the Rotherham game there was an appropriate graphic where the advertising stuff goes. That graphic was included, and then the other stuff continued to be rotated. This suggests to me that team line ups, subs, and cards could be shown and if not there permanently (my preferred option) then very frequently rotated with the other stuff like the ads. It would mean in game updating, which might be an issue I suppose. Audio at the Valley also has issues to be sorted out I think.
sadamson84sadamson84 Member September 16 Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Hello Mr Adamson, I don't know what your role is in the Club, but we really do need someone like you to report back on what you read here. If for instance you read the comments after the Huddersfield game you will see that there are a lot of intelligent and intuitive people on this site, and the management would do well to note the opinions that are expressed.
I'm the club's audio visual assistant so I was involved with the designing of a camera system at The Valley which would allow replays to appear on the new big screen. I'm not the person who decided live stream over team sheets but I do run the big screen on a match day and produce most of the video content for the screen and CAFC PlayerHD.
I do report feedback back and do take note of what fans say, for example I had no idea fans found the score font size too small so now I will adjust this for the next game.
When they had the 11th minute tribute at the Rotherham game there was an appropriate graphic where the advertising stuff goes. That graphic was included, and then the other stuff continued to be rotated. This suggests to me that team line ups, subs, and cards could be shown and if not there permanently (my preferred option) then very frequently rotated with the other stuff like the ads. It would mean in game updating, which might be an issue I suppose. Audio at the Valley also has issues to be sorted out I think.
This is what we are trying to find a temporary solution for. The banner system below has to be pre-loaded and takes 15 minutes to update new content meaning that as soon as a substitution took place the banner would be out of date.
In terms of font sizes being too small is this on the scores? This is honestly the first I've heard of it, and I've received one email today which directed me here where I saw the comments. I will look into making these larger even if we have to split them for the next match.
To disprove a few comments I keep reading, the big screen section which fans see isn't smaller than last season. The big screen has smaller edges and takes up the entire case whereas the previous one didn't, and the wider edges makes the picture a 16 x 9 dimension which is the more common video format.
In terms of live game feed we wanted to try this for the first few games and then review it from there. I will pass comments on to the relevant people making the decision to have the live game feed, and we will work on a solution which will benefit the majority of fans. I've said it a lot but we are looking into how we can get the teams on the screen in some form, it's just taking time to work out and potentially get new software built as the screen is run in a completely different way to how it was last season so it wouldn't even be a case of just grabbing the controls from last season.
Hopefully we will find a solution both in the software side and fan engagement side soon.
Great response. Part of it is change after years of Dan Bream's stuff - I do miss the fish - but live action seems a bit silly when you're there to watch it in real life.
For me, I'd have the teams/goals/cards/time/score up there by default, with lots of replays, different angles etc. The font was almost illegible from the halfway line in the East, my eyesight's far from perfect but not had a problem in previous years.
One question. You say the screen isn't smaller, and I'll take your word for that - but to me it seems the area above the advertising is actually shorter than last year, and therefore even though it's now widescreen, in effect everything's smaller on it. That is, if I wanted to change a 4:3 bit of card to 16:9, I could add a bit of card to widen it or - what I think we've effectively done - cut the bottom of it off. That would give you less space to list the teams, etc. and cause problems with fitting it on with legible fonts.
If I'm right, you might want to think about losing the advert bar.
sadamson84sadamson84 Member September 16 Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Hello Mr Adamson, I don't know what your role is in the Club, but we really do need someone like you to report back on what you read here. If for instance you read the comments after the Huddersfield game you will see that there are a lot of intelligent and intuitive people on this site, and the management would do well to note the opinions that are expressed.
I do report feedback back and do take note of what fans say, for example I had no idea fans found the score font size too small so now I will adjust this for the next game.
I take it, there was no testing carried out beforehand? All it needed was the screen to be put out and someone go to the back of the North upper to see if they can read it.
Please please please also stop the live feed and put the squads up and show replays as and when needed. It's infuriating not seeing the squads on the screen!
It looks as if the way to begin to find solutions to all this is for somebody to empathise with the experience of a fan. The solution can be reactive and not imposed.
I do report feedback back and do take note of what fans say, for example I had no idea fans found the score font size too small so now I will adjust this for the next game.
Thank you. Please take note though that it's not just a little bit too small. It's not even close to being readable from the North Stand, so if you adjust it, please don't just take it up 1 font size. I think you probably need to double it!
Comments
His reply:
The big screen isn’t my domain, no, but I have forwarded it on to the relevant people.
As far as I am aware, they are currently looking into some software which will enable them to add the teams to the big screen in some form.
If possible, whether that will result in the teams being permanently on the screen, as it used to be, or on occasion, I’m not sure.
I agree that half-time scores need to be larger and as someone who regularly produces the match reports I understand your preference to have the two teams with cards and substitutions, etc, listed on screen.
All feedback concerning the screen has been collected and, now that we have three weeks or so without a home game, they may have a bit of time to sit down and discuss things.
Or indeed the Titan lifts advert last season, showing the "players" and manager in the lift.
It would mean that more people actually look at the screen and so are more likely to read the ads
Correct some of them are box holders, suppliers etc but the big screen adverts have been sold separately to their packages, meaning it is extra income for the club.
But they are still part of broader relationships in which money notionally flows both ways - no disrespect to the firms involved, who do support the club, but the real test is how far the club can attract new standalone advertising agreements and that's very difficult without TV exposure - and even with it.
The ill-informed might think you once worked for the club and knew what you were talking about.....
At the time we were printing maybe four times as many programmes as the club does now and there were probably 18-20 pages of ads - if there was even one in any programme that actually brought in cash to the club that would have been unusual.
Anyone who thinks that is likely to have changed for the better with hardly any commercial staff and about 12,000 people in the ground for Championship football is a fantasist, I'm afraid.
September 16
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Hello Mr Adamson, I don't know what your role is in the Club, but we really do need someone like you to report back on what you read here. If for instance you read the comments after the Huddersfield game you will see that there are a lot of intelligent and intuitive people on this site, and the management would do well to note the opinions that are expressed.
That graphic was included, and then the other stuff continued to be rotated. This suggests to me that team line ups, subs, and cards could be shown and if not there permanently (my preferred option) then very frequently rotated with the other stuff like the ads.
It would mean in game updating, which might be an issue I suppose.
Audio at the Valley also has issues to be sorted out I think.
I do report feedback back and do take note of what fans say, for example I had no idea fans found the score font size too small so now I will adjust this for the next game.
For me, I'd have the teams/goals/cards/time/score up there by default, with lots of replays, different angles etc. The font was almost illegible from the halfway line in the East, my eyesight's far from perfect but not had a problem in previous years.
One question. You say the screen isn't smaller, and I'll take your word for that - but to me it seems the area above the advertising is actually shorter than last year, and therefore even though it's now widescreen, in effect everything's smaller on it. That is, if I wanted to change a 4:3 bit of card to 16:9, I could add a bit of card to widen it or - what I think we've effectively done - cut the bottom of it off. That would give you less space to list the teams, etc. and cause problems with fitting it on with legible fonts.
If I'm right, you might want to think about losing the advert bar.
Upper and lower case letters are easier to read than CAPITALS.
I sit in the west upper and can't now read the away team list or the half times.
The home team graphics are just awful.
Someone should tell the club.