For those of you who aren’t sailors, (and for some of you who are), the Americas Cup is back around for the next iteration.
Arguably the pinnacle of the sport – we will get into those arguments later – the cup has been through some strange times over the last 15 years.
The 2021 version is a new normal. Monohulls (sort of), match racing off the coast of New Zealand. As a fan, it’s amazing to watch and thanks to YouTube, we can watch it – complete with expert commentary and post-race analysis.
But some fans aren’t happy.
From Linkedin…
“RANT. I can’t believe how bad the Americas cup coverage is in UK! I’m not talking about BBC (that’s another conversation) but the sailing industry. Where are the podcasts and youtube shows, with in-depth analysis and chat. Surely there are enough UK experts and personalities to make this happen. The youth team from last cup could do the job alongside with some experienced coaches. This seems like a big missed opportunity. INEOS BBC YouTube #americascup #needcreators“
My initial reaction was simple – there is no money. But it’s more complicated than that.
Firstly, I don’t agree that the coverage is bad. Fans can watch a professionally produced TV product live on YouTube. For those who are not in the antipodes, you can watch the full, uncut coverage on demand. There is also coverage of the build up and press-conferences. The teams have decent social media content and there are a few independent content creators getting into the weeds! (Shout out to Mozzy Sails)
Is it a missed opportunity? Probably not.
Sailing has never really had a mainstream following in the UK and coverage on terrestrial television is rare – with a few exceptions like the Olympics and expolits of Ellen and Dee and Alex.
That’s in a good year. Add in the inabilty to travel to NZ, and the optics of promoting a bunch of privileged people living it up in the sun and its not hard to see why there is not more mainstream coverage.
As for independent creators, there is a reason there are not more podcasts and youtube shows.
There is no money in it.
Content creation is time consuming and expensive. Sailing fans, like many other content consumers are reluctant to pay and the sport does not attract advertisers, despite the big logos on the hulls and sails of the boats.
Despite the rhetoric, marketing people still don’t really believe in micro-influencers, prefering audiences of millions rather than tens of thousands. The advertising model on platforms like Youtube doesn’t work for niche audiences.
That’s in a normal year. Commentating remotely is not quite the same as being there. If there was not a global pandemic, and international air travel was operating as it used to, there may be more independent content producers in Auckland, close to the action and hunting down rumours and insight. Maybe.
The reality is that sailing fans have never had it so good. With the click or a tap we can watch drone footage from a Vendee Globe boat in the Southern Ocean, we can get augmented reality shots from the Sailing GP on Sydney Harbour and tune into the audio of skippers of Americas Cup boats as they cross at closing speeds of 80 knots.
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