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Alex Waterhouse IG post
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A few weeks ago, the IFSC announced that this Discovery had acquired the rights to this year's World Cup livestreams, and the live broadcast would be put behind a paywall in Europe and some other countries. Replays of the streams will be available 24 hours later on YouTube, and spectators in the US will still be able to view the live stream as normal. The IFSC attempted to pull off a similar deal in 2017 with FloSport, but this was reneged after significant pushback from fans and athletes.
Yesterday, I put up a story asking my followers who normally watch comps (a particularly engaged set of fans keen enough to follow someone yet to make a WC final!) how they planned to watch the stream this weekend. Over half of the respondents weren't going to watch at all. Of those willing to make the effort in a paywalled country, over 75% are going tune into the USA steam via a VPN and only a fraction are going to subscribe to Discovery/Eurosport. This is far from a comprehensive study, but the numbers point to a very worrying trend that could threaten the future of the sport. Extrapolated, this equates to tens or hundreds of thousands of people less watching the comp live. Climbing's viewership is growing fast, and adding in extra hurdles is going to limit that massively. Core fans will probably still watch, but it'll be hard to convince someone on the fence to take the plunge and purchase a subscription.
Most comp climbers in the UK at least are self funded. I am really lucky to work with sponsors as that is the only way to support my international career, and I want to be able to support them in return as much as possible. I am struggling to see how this deal supports that. I think we need to start a conversation and hear from the IFSC and Discovery how they plan to grow the sport over the next years until Paris and beyond. Everything has its teething issues, but the direction is worrying and the decisions are happening behind closed doors and with limited athlete input. I believe the IFSC has the best interest of our sport in mind, but I'm worried that this is will be a damaging decision for fans and athletes without significant improvement in the quality of the presentation.
The IFSC, setters, organizers and athletes put on a heck of a show this weekend in Meiringen. One of the best comps to watch in a long time! I just want that, and climbing, to be enjoyed by as many people as possible across the world, and I think conversations like these are an important part of that.