No one will want it. It will be back to GAAGO.
There will be no one playing GAA in 10 years.
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GAA streaming boom crosses bumpy road: Rising costs, dodgy boxes, quality conflicts
Clubber showed 64 GAA games across nine counties last weekend. Other counties provided their own service. The streaming phenomenon continues.
READY TO ROLL: Ricky Nolan, left, and James Fitzgerald prepare their cameras to stream a match on clubber.ie.
Thu, 29 Aug, 2024 - 06:30
Maurice Brosnan
It is not for everyone, but there is an option almost everywhere. Last weekend, Clubber showed 64 GAA games across nine counties. Other counties provided their own service. The streaming phenomenon continues.
âThat was a record number of games last weekend,â explains CEO and co-founder of Clubber, Jimmy Doyle. A Tipperary native, Covidâs colossal impact on the broadcasting landscape prompted him to embrace this industry.
âWe donât believe that was done in the history of the state â 64 live events on one weekend covered by one provider. We spend a lot of time on the technology and process.
"For example, we had a big debate about doing the Kerry Junior A championship quarter-finals. We chose not to do them in the end, right now there is a line for us. We have to pay rights fees, production costs, technical streaming fees, VAT etc. The quest is how can we reduce the price of producing games. Then we can do more. That is it in a nutshell.
âCordal, Knocknagoshel, Tarbert, these areas are passionate about their GAA, smaller communities. The question was can we get 70 people to pay to watch that game? We didnât think that would happen. If we can continue to drive it, maybe we can get it done for 50. If you are talking to me this time next year, Iâd love to be saying yeah, we are showing these games.â
Clubber cover 11 counties in two provinces currently. An annual pass is priced at âŹ149.99, with a game costing on average âŹ11.99. The price elsewhere varies widely, as does the number of games on offer. Armagh TV, for example, charges ÂŁ20 for a monthly subscription or ÂŁ5 per game. Galway GAA TV is priced at âŹ225 for all games, âŹ175 per code or âŹ30 for a weekend pass. Corkâs Rebels Online costs âŹ79.99 or âŹ7.99 for a game.
Club fixtures have never demanded the same resources as intercounty, even in its traditional form. RTĂ have previously pared it down to five cameras including one mobile camera operator and no studio. Now, at this level, the production is much less than that. In Doyleâs mind, most consumers just want to be able to see and hear it clearly.
âA traditional broadcaster has to pay for an OB van. Their costs are probably 30 to 50 grand, and upwards for the really big games. We do things completely differently. We use OTT, over the internet. It has risks. Is there coverage in some pockets? Can you rely on mobile broadband? But it has worked.
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âWe may get caught once or twice in a couple thousand games. It is worth the risk in terms of what you can deliver. People are reasonable. We might have done 1,000 games in the last 18 months, we will definitely do 1,000 in this calendar year. We have to do a game at less than âŹ1,000 to make it viable. That is the road we are on.
"At some point there will be an internet or cable problem. We put our hands up, explain it, refund everyone and keep going.â
Still, there are critics. This is a competitive space. That brings all sorts of fallout. On social media, some rival operators castigate Clubberâs production.
âLook we have thousands of people who are happily watching games,â says Doyle.
âWe had the lowest number of questions into support last weekend and the majority are generally, âI paid for the wrong game, I canât get it set up on this particular device.â
âIt is in the .0001% giving out about quality. The majority are happy to be able to watch the game. The production isnât comparable to Sky Sports Champions League final with multiple cameras, ultimate picture quality. In a regular usersâ eyes when you look at one camera close up, it is not much different.
âIt is full HD. People wonât accept pixelation on the screen. Is the camera up with the play? Are you getting tight shots and full replays? No, it is not all the bells and whistles. If the sound is bad or the picture is gone, that is below the bar.â
Streaming is now embedded in the association. Counties that arenât providing any coverage in 2024, like Limerick, are a complete outlier. This development has brought difficulties though. Tyrone GAA showed every club championship match from senior to junior in 2023. A drop in subscriptions was blamed on modified Firesticks and apps to pirate Live Streams. âDodgy boxes,â basically.
âThis is the single biggest issue we are working on right now,â says Doyle.
âWe talked about it as a team last week. We are gung-ho on it for the next few months. We will do our best. It is hard, there are a lot of smart people who are basically illegally taking our stream and they could ruin it for everyone. That is the reality.
"It is that serious. I support Tyrone on that, it ultimately could ruin this space.â
Where will it all go? Right now, it is headed in one direction. It hasnât been a smooth ride, but the industry is pushing onwards. Despite the annual outrage about GAAGO, the general audience is increasingly at ease with paying to stream matches at every level.
âWe are up against rising costs with technology, commentators, fuel travelling to games. We have to manage that,â says Doyle. âWe have a very dedicated team all over the country who are passionate about this stuff. They are doing it price-consciously.
âI definitely believe more and more games can be shown if the will is there. As long as people want it, it will happen.â
Clubber Iâd sign up to in a heartbeat but Galway 
It is a brilliant initiative. Brilliant commentators. Brilliant everything. Nearest thing to being there youâll ever get.
Wonder what the equipment cost would be to setup a perch and then the camera at a ground?
We talking 10k-20k sort of realm before labour is involved?
Theyâd already be gone bust if it cost even 20% of that
The crowd doing the streams for Clare Gaa TV have a couple of glorified Chip vans which they use to house the commentators and camera. Gives them a high enough vantage point to record the matches.
Said Chipper Van
GAAGO subscription revenues rise by 118% to âŹ4.96 million
Gordon Deegan
Subscription revenues at the controversial GAA and RTĂ joint streaming venture, GAAGO, surged by âŹ2.6 million, or 118 per cent, to âŹ4.96 million last year.
According to new 2023 accounts filed by GAAGO Media Ltd, the companyâs overall revenues more than doubled, rising from âŹ2.4 million to âŹ5.23 million as the platform benefited from its deal to broadcast GAA championship games to a domestic audience behind a pay-wall.
The streaming companyâs revenues were made up of âŹ4.96 million in subscription revenues and sponsorship income, which increased three-fold from âŹ90,000 to âŹ273,437.
Against the background of a GAA fan and political backlash of high profile GAA games being put behind the GAAGO paywall, pre-tax profits at the company increased by 47 per cent from âŹ595,750 to âŹ874,047.
The profits for the subscription-based sports channel of the last two years allowed the firm to pay a âŹ1.2 million dividend to its joint owners, RTĂ and the GAA.
The accounts - signed off this month by GAA Croke Park Stadium Director, Peter McKenna and RTĂâs Group Head of Sport, Declan McBennett - show that the company recorded a post-tax profit of âŹ761,370 in 2023 after paying âŹ112,677 in corporation tax.
On the companyâs going concern status, the directors state that trading forecasts to September 2025 âshow the company continuing to operate profitably and generating significant levels of operating cashflowsâ.
The report adds: âAs a result, the directors are satisfied that the company has sufficient available funding to continue as a going concern for the foreseeable future.â
The directors state that the GAAGO service streams GAA games to both domestic and international audiences and features over 100 live and on-demand games over the year.
The firm currently faces a battle to retain the domestic rights for the 2025 season after the GAA in August sought âexpression of interestâ for domestic broadcast rights for All-Ireland senior football and hurling championships.
GAAGOâs right to broadcast matches to an international audience remains unaffected and the accounts state that the company has an operational comment to broadcast games to an international audience until the end of the rights agreement in 2027.
The broadcast of the games to a domestic audience resulted in the companyâs costs surging by âŹ2.54 million or 140 per cent from âŹ1.81 million to âŹ4.36 million last year.
The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of âŹ78,172. The accounts show that former RTĂ Director General, Dee Forbes resigned from the board of GAAGO on June 26th, 2023.
This year, Taoiseach Simon Harris and TĂĄnaiste MicheĂĄl Martin were among those who hit out at GAAGO, with the Taoiseach claiming the GAA had âgotten it wrongâ in relation to the service.
The TĂĄnaiste agreed, and added: âIâve huge concerns about it, I donât understand it, in terms of the promotion of the game of hurling.â
GAA President, Jarlath Burns defended the streaming service in an interview in May on Today with Claire Byrne on RTĂ Radio.
He said: âIâm very surprised to hear the Taoiseach speaking about this, considering that last year we sat in front of an Oireachtas committee.
He added: âThere were no issues and at the end of it they accepted every argument that we had, all of our rationale for the fact that we only have one broadcast partner, which is RTĂ, they have 35 matches.â
Dublin GAA will go nuts with that money.
Saturday 26/10 @ 7.30 on RTE 2
Dublin SHC final
Na Fianna v Kilmacud Crokes
Sunday 27/10 @ 1.45 on TG4
Galway SFC final
Corofin v Moycullen
@ 4.10
Limerick SHC final
Doon v Na Piarsaigh
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Dublin hurling should be a cracker.