flo’s excuse to stay relevant… “watch party”

[Newbie123 5]

I will admit, I am a customer and have enjoyed their service multiple years due their ability to deliver great live dual content . With flo not being able to stream  duals that are streamed/broadcasted on other networks  (b10, acc, rokfin,etc), I find myself asking is it worth continuing  paying for their services? Does anyone really want to watch pyles discuss the live match all while they stream it from their computers from the above networks? 
 

[WresFan89 40]

Seems like the dumbest **** ever.

[AHamilton 1,026]

What college duals does Rokfin have? 

I admit the watch party isn't a great idea... but it certainly doesn't fall into the category of "excuse.'  How would it be an excuse?  

They can't get Big 10 stuff anymore, but I have loved the UWW content.

[Wrestleknownothing 1,510]

I tend to view the situation more benignly. For whatever reason they lost the Big 10 contract, but rather than do nothing they are trying something with the watch parties. While I have zero interest in watching them watching wrestling, at least they are taking their shot.

[Jaroslav Hasek 2,050]

if only we Flo could be the monopoly we are sometimes called, then we wouldn't have to make up excuses to stay relevant. alas, BTN, ESPN, NBC and Rokfin have exclusive media rights to some of the biggest and most popular wrestling events which precludes them from being streamed on Flo.

Flo still has a pretty kick ass college lineup tho, imo. CKLV, Scuffle, EIWAs, UNI, Wyoming, South Dakota State, Drexel, Utah Valley, Northern Colorado, Edinboro, Air Force and we just recently signed a deal with Lehigh. Plus UWW, USAW, some other college events, all the high school events etc, etc. Your milage may vary tho.

anyway, I'll be on this so-called "watch party" on friday with @Jon_Kozak the only other person at Flo that still frequents this message board, and we're going to talk about every single mean thing you all say about us on the stream.

[VakAttack 4,016]

While watch parties are not my thing (nor most adults) it's very much in line with how younger folks are consuming content. Tons of YouTube videos and Twitch streams are just watching people watch something else.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Drake_Mallard 373]

Id rather them do this than nothing. Its talking about wrestling. How different is that than a podcast?

Edited November 18, 2021 by Drake_Mallard

[juniorvarsity 18]

It is interesting to me that the Big Ten opted for Intermat rankings this year. Considering Flowrestling used to have a dual meets, rankings, and more coverage of the conference, they have been totally shut out. 

I will say that at least these watch parties mean that they have to talk about events that are not on their platform. They used to pretend that if it did not stream on Flo, then it did not exist. They have lost streaming rights for enough important events to no longer be able to do that. I am curious to see if they start talking about the Collegiate Wrestling Duals. There is no mention of it on their website yet and like 7 of the top 10 teams will be there. Surely will not have a watch party for that event.

I did not realize how weak their college schedule is this year. 

[Plasmodium 2,262]

11 hours ago, Jaroslav Hasek said:

if only we Flo could be the monopoly we are sometimes called, then we wouldn't have to make up excuses to stay relevant. alas, BTN, ESPN, NBC and Rokfin have exclusive media rights to some of the biggest and most popular wrestling events which precludes them from being streamed on Flo.

Flo still has a pretty kick ass college lineup tho, imo. CKLV, Scuffle, EIWAs, UNI, Wyoming, South Dakota State, Drexel, Utah Valley, Northern Colorado, Edinboro, Air Force and we just recently signed a deal with Lehigh. Plus UWW, USAW, some other college events, all the high school events etc, etc. Your milage may vary tho.

anyway, I'll be on this so-called "watch party" on friday with @Jon_Kozak the only other person at Flo that still frequents this message board, and we're going to talk about every single mean thing you all say about us on the stream.

I'll come up with something mean and petty. That is pronounced plaz-moe-dee-um.

Freestyle aside, that is a weak college broadcast season.  Two of the tournaments are good, but none of the duels feature top twenty teams.  

[snapspinscore 44]

11 hours ago, Jaroslav Hasek said:

if only we Flo could be the monopoly we are sometimes called, then we wouldn't have to make up excuses to stay relevant. alas, BTN, ESPN, NBC and Rokfin have exclusive media rights to some of the biggest and most popular wrestling events which precludes them from being streamed on Flo.

Flo still has a pretty kick ass college lineup tho, imo. CKLV, Scuffle, EIWAs, UNI, Wyoming, South Dakota State, Drexel, Utah Valley, Northern Colorado, Edinboro, Air Force and we just recently signed a deal with Lehigh. Plus UWW, USAW, some other college events, all the high school events etc, etc. Your milage may vary tho.

anyway, I'll be on this so-called "watch party" on friday with @Jon_Kozak the only other person at Flo that still frequents this message board, and we're going to talk about every single mean thing you all say about us on the stream.

Dude lol, shut up.

[Mphillips 1,738]

4 minutes ago, Plasmodium said:

I'll come up with something mean and petty. That is pronounced plaz-moe-dee-um.

Freestyle aside, that is a weak college broadcast season.  Two of the tournaments are good, but none of the duels feature top twenty teams.  

Pistols at twenty paces?

[snapspinscore 44]

2 minutes ago, Mphillips said:

Pistols at twenty paces?

I'll take a good ol' wild west showdown over most the s*** Flo puts out.

[Plasmodium 2,262]

Just now, Mphillips said:

Pistols at twenty paces?

I had a grammar lesson this morning.  'Dual' is an adjective.  'Duel' is a noun.  Thanks @hammerlockthree.

[Mphillips 1,738]

10 minutes ago, Plasmodium said:

I had a grammar lesson this morning.  'Dual' is an adjective.  'Duel' is a noun.  Thanks @hammerlockthree.

They'll be no, 'snarky' responses either...

[TBar1977 4,539]

Not Flo's excuse to stay relevant, but rather their attempt to do so. I can't even imagine watching that. 

[Jon_Kozak 321]

I've always enjoyed this message board, and still do, because it allows me to have conversations with wrestling fans around the country (and world) that I can't have in person. I view our watch parties as something very similar to this board, especially with the live chat feature. On top of that, all of the major sports have studio shows dedicated to keeping fans updated on their sports' results. 

[Lurker 2,039]

This thread is hillarious.

I didn't think the Manning cast was going to be much either, but it's getting close to matching the actual game viewership.  I'm not a big fan of it though, so you know what I did.....chose not to watch.  I was amazed at how simple it was.

[SignificantACCBias 88]

This is a really strange thing to get all worked up about.

[Jaroslav Hasek 2,050]

getting great material for tomorrow. thank you everyone for your feedback. 

[JasonBryant 2,098]

I don't have much of an issue with it. I've been slowly working out my "Watchin' Wrestling" stuff for the last two years from my studio, with that concept to be similar to the Fight Companion that Joe Rogan did. I only watched it sparingly, but my plan was to have me and maybe someone in studio, watching wrestling, chatting with fans online and bringing them in to also talk via zoom-like interfaces and stream it. It's a little different than what Flo's got, but I've done something similar, as has Stalemates. I know we're more reliant on the fan interaction than Flo has seemed to have been via their app chat interface, but it's not exactly a bad thing.

Some people want to just BS with me and some friends and talk about the beers we're drinking while pointing out stuff that happens on our streams, because it's not in sync with everyone. 

I sat in my buddy's house back home in Virginia last night watching wrestling, having a beer and just being friends who like wrestling. I don't see it as much of a difference, unless @Jaroslav Hasekwants to up the ante and bring in some Live Oak beers in there and really spice it up! 

[VakAttack 4,016]

2 minutes ago, JasonBryant said:

I don't have much of an issue with it. I've been slowly working out my "Watchin' Wrestling" stuff for the last two years from my studio, with that concept to be similar to the Fight Companion that Joe Rogan did. I only watched it sparingly, but my plan was to have me and maybe someone in studio, watching wrestling, chatting with fans online and bringing them in to also talk via zoom-like interfaces and stream it. It's a little different than what Flo's got, but I've done something similar, as has Stalemates. I know we're more reliant on the fan interaction than Flo has seemed to have been via their app chat interface, but it's not exactly a bad thing.

Some people want to just BS with me and some friends and talk about the beers we're drinking while pointing out stuff that happens on our streams, because it's not in sync with everyone. 

I sat in my buddy's house back home in Virginia last night watching wrestling, having a beer and just being friends who like wrestling. I don't see it as much of a difference, unless @Jaroslav Hasekwants to up the ante and bring in some Live Oak beers in there and really spice it up! 

Oooh, I did this, so maybe I'm younger than I think!

[MizzouGrad 137]

Flo's issue is that 3rd-tier media rights have been eliminated due to new broadcasting agreements. They used to be able to stream all Oklahoma St. duals because the Big12 allowed each school to monetize 3rd-tier sporting events. 

Now that's gone and you have the Big12 part of ESPN+, Big Ten part of BTN, and so on and so forth....there is no rights for Flo or anyone else to buy. 

What Flo should have done was pay big $$ for a national duals event over say 3 or 4 days. If the NCAA won't sanction a national duals title, Flo could have just created one. Big trophy, big event, big name brands/wrestlers, and chance for Flo to draw in subscribers. 

I'm sure they tried and it didn't work out, but now Rokfin is broadcasting a similar event in December. 

[Jaroslav Hasek 2,050]

5 hours ago, juniorvarsity said:

They used to pretend that if it did not stream on Flo, then it did not exist.

the 'watch party' concept is a fairly recent development for Flo but from the very beginning of its existence Flo has covered events that were not streamed on Flo. a lot of people confuse 'promotion' and 'coverage' tho so its understandable. we get it a lot.

some events Flo doesn't stream will get a lot of coverage, some very little, or none, but every major wrestling events gets covered extensively. promotion is entirely different and if we don't stream it, there most likely won't be a budget for it. its how it works for pretty much every media company. espn may cover a boxing or bellator fight they don't broadcast that is important to the sport but they are going to spend zero dollars marketing or promoting it. 

espn used to get lots of complaints from the ice hockey community for hardly even covering the stanley cup playoffs, let alone promoting it. but now that espn has big media deal with the NHL with lots of exclusive broadcast rights, they're going to be providing lots of coverage and promotion across their channels. the NHL commissioner even joked about it. 

28 minutes ago, MizzouGrad said:

Flo's issue is that 3rd-tier media rights have been eliminated due to new broadcasting agreements. They used to be able to stream all Oklahoma St. duals because the Big12 allowed each school to monetize 3rd-tier sporting events. 

this is 100% correct. espn is squatting on all sorts of great wrestling content and investing approximately zero resources into it. hopefully that changes, with either the unbundling of the conference contracts that allow schools to once again shop around their tier 3 rights, or with espn taking notice and putting some money and resources behind their wrestling programming. both would be good for the sport imo, regardless of if that entails more streaming rights for Flo or not. 

[fadzaev2 545]

9 hours ago, Plasmodium said:

I had a grammar lesson this morning.  'Dual' is an adjective.  'Duel' is a noun.  Thanks @hammerlockthree.

As in.....dual meet (adj.)/gun duel  (noun)

[hammerlockthree 2,635]

Flo just seems like they are doubling down on the wrong things....