As I officially promised to release all figures from the FXOpen Invitational series event, you will find disclosed all facts and figures as well as my own opinion of these facts and figures for the first week of the FXOpen Invitational event.
First of all, let me start by saying the numbers we received to the FIS have been encouraging. But from a first weeks perspective they are just below the line of expectation.
Ok so lets get down to it shall we.
Firstly. Income.
Ad revenue: $710.54 Subscribers: 66 Income from subscribers: 66 x 3.493 = $230.54
Total income for week 1: $941.08
Break even: $8500
Remaining until break even: $7558.92
As you can see, we did smash a fair bit out of the required income to break even on the cash investment. The figures are promising for an FXOpen event, as it is our record so far. But in terms of the actual cost, there is still a long long way to go.
The best and most impressive figures that I have found are the following figures:
Video views: 215876 (this is total number of times the video or stream was opened, by anyone including refreshes etc)
Unique views: 132763 (this is the number of individuals who watched our stream during the period of broadcasting)
Hours watched: 96866 (this is the total amount of time viewers as a whole watched our stream)
Note we only streamed for ~48 hours
We ran 300 commercials over the entire weekend, which for us is the most we have ever done in a 48 hour period, that being said, we streamed the most games we have ever streamed in that 48 hour period as well.
Analysis
I actually just got back from Jakarta, but had these facts all over my laptop and I have been looking at them very closely during the time I was away. The numbers are good. Don't let the dollar value fool you. The actual hours watched and the unique viewers vs the video views shows that we had a stable stream with a mid-high viewer retention rate. Each viewer actually watched the stream for a long enough period to decide whether or not the content was relevant to them. Which is basically stating that the product can be marketed as browsers actually spend time observing the product before switching to the next.
Having 132763 unique individuals viewing the stream at some point in time also helps us identify whether or not its the content or the timezone that we are broadcasting the content. (This is also shown by the concurrent views vs the unique viewers)
From my own analysis we could find a better time slot for our main broadcast. However, due to the strong competition in e-sports events, the timezone we have picked is safest to maximize our viewership. We do not want to be clashing with GSTL or the likes at the same time. However, our rebroadcasts allow the viewers of other events to jump onto our stream when that event finishes to catch up on what they missed out. This has shown with our high unique viewer count.
Note: statistical comparison are based on FXO events only and are not representing statistical evidence on the industry as a whole
What I'd like to see this weekend.
From feedback I have noticed that people are generally pleased with the increase in broadcast quality from FXOpen e-Sports, so we are entering our second week with that in mind. We also have some pretty intense matches coming up in the RO16 and LB. These should lead to some exciting games. I am hoping that this weekend we can break 10k concurrent viewers. That alone to us is achievement enough to continue along with the invitational series project. We would also hope that those who were on the fence about subscribing feel that its worth taking the plunge. The prizes are there to be won so it might as well be you winning them am I right?
Finally I want to thank all the viewers for allowing this to be possible and a success. It is truly appreciated. I also want to thank those in chat who have (as always) kept our stream chat at a respectable level where our mods don't have to always swing the ban hammer. We do get alot of feedback about how nice our chat is. I hope it stays that way. Also, thank you to Razer for helping us with prizes and of course TL for their support with the streamlist. Also, Thegunrun and twitch.tv for helping out where necessary with the stream and back office.
I look forward to seeing you all in chat on the weekend.
On January 25 2012 23:12 Eppa! wrote: Is it possible to have EU rebroadcast? 6 am is terrible for us.-
TL is not allowing us to put the rebroadcast in the calender. However, if you see the stream "FXOpen" in the featured list, it is the rebroadcast and will be running for 48 hours over the weekend. The broadcasts are set up to hit the main timzones. So you should be able to get an EU rebroadcast. I will discuss tomorrow with unstable about scheduling the broadcasts and advertising the broadcast time.
On January 25 2012 23:12 Eppa! wrote: Is it possible to have EU rebroadcast? 6 am is terrible for us.-
They rebroadcasted straight after the original broadcast finished last weekend.
Interesting stuff boss, cool to see the breakdown of how online tournaments perform (this, SCI etc). I'll keep trying to drag my sorry arse out of bed at 5am to give you +1 concurrent on the initial live cast =p
On January 25 2012 23:12 Eppa! wrote: Is it possible to have EU rebroadcast? 6 am is terrible for us.-
They rebroadcasted straight after the original broadcast finished last weekend.
Interesting stuff boss, cool to see the breakdown of how online tournaments perform (this, SCI etc). I'll keep trying to drag my sorry arse out of bed at 5am to give you +1 concurrent on the initial live cast =p
A true esports hero right here. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to catch any of this, due to school internet, rather than disinterest, but I would if I could, if that makes you feel any better.
On January 25 2012 23:12 Eppa! wrote: Is it possible to have EU rebroadcast? 6 am is terrible for us.-
I'm in Latvia at the moment and only caught the last half of the live games myself. If you tune in half way, just keep watching to see the rebroadcast after. Some thoroughly entertaining games for sure.
The time-slot didn't really hurt us because of the rebroadcasting. I don't feel the results are bad at all. But it goes to show that its not so easy to break even on a project in e-sports relying on revenue generation rather than sponsorships.
The "live" factor matters a ton in which viewership ceiling you can potentially hit. Personally, I don't see any way for your timeslot to hit 10k, while both EU and NA are sleeping (to be sure, I was convinced you couldn't even hit 4k, and was pleasantly proven wrong). I believe back when GSL still airs on twitch, they peaked at around 13k.
Thank you so much for your transparency. More professional eSports organizations need to follow your example and let the community know how things are shaping up.
Ever since you were the first foreigner team in Korea for the GSTL, I have been impressed with the initiative FXO has taken in their pioneering efforts for eSports. I will continue to watch and support as many of your endeavors as I can.
One of those subscribers is me! It is good to get a sense of how much support something is getting in numbers like this.
The production values were great, the list of players was excellent. The timezone works perfect for me, but then again I'm only one hour ahead of South Korea anyways and so GSL and everything else is usually timed great for me.
I can't really think of anything to provide feedback on. I just wish more people would watch and support.
Mega props for being able to post these figures for everyone to see. FXO is probably the most open, transparent, and communicable team around. You're slowly becoming my favorite team <3
Now that the figures are all up, wouldn't it be time to wash it all down and get prepared for the next round of streams with some good ol' teh tarik? =)
jan/feb are supposed to be the worst 2 months for ad revenue via streaming.. I think those same numbers could generate 2 or 3 times as much a couple months later just by taking advantage of better ads.
Additionally I don't ever hear about incentives for getting a FXO subscription. I think you guys shouldn't be talking about money made from 66 subs but closer to 300-400 AT LEAST. Offer raffles to play with Leenock for 1-3 games, raffle off a coaching session with one of your english speaking players.. give them a seat in a custom game rotation etc etc.
Pretty awesome to post the numbers. I just hope everyone is doing their part to make them grow as much as possible!
On January 26 2012 01:19 iNcontroL wrote: jan/feb are supposed to be the worst 2 months for ad revenue via streaming.. I think those same numbers could generate 2 or 3 times as much a couple months later just by taking advantage of better ads.
Additionally I don't ever hear about incentives for getting a FXO subscription. I think you guys shouldn't be talking about money made from 66 subs but closer to 300-400 AT LEAST. Offer raffles to play with Leenock for 1-3 games, raffle off a coaching session with one of your english speaking players.. give them a seat in a custom game rotation etc etc.
Pretty awesome to post the numbers. I just hope everyone is doing their part to make them grow as much as possible!
We do have reasons (really good ones, at that) for subscribing.
FXOpen e-Sports will be offering a subscription for this event. This will be completely optional and you will be able to participate in the following benefits.
Receive no advertisements on the stream
Ability to chat during peak broadcast time (chat will be limited during periods where we are not able to completely moderate the chat. Subscribers will still be able to chat)
Opportunity to win prizes:
1 x Razer Banshee headset
1 x Razer Spectre mouse
3 x Razer Zerg bag
4 x Signed FXOpen e-Sports jacket of the player or players of your choice
4 x replay packs consisting of 10 replays of your favourite FXOpen e-Sports players. You can choose any player, any specific matchup, or a mix. And our major prize is!
1 x FXOpen e-Sports Korean house access pass (for 10 days, includes inhouse food and board but not travel expenses)
We feel that a good cost for the benefits of supporting the event and the chance to win the prizes involved would be $5 USD for a months subscription (the entire event) Let us know what you think!
A little better than a random game, I would think.
On January 26 2012 01:19 mrGRAPE wrote: Now that the figures are all up, wouldn't it be time to wash it all down and get prepared for the next round of streams with some good ol' teh tarik? =)
On January 26 2012 01:19 iNcontroL wrote: jan/feb are supposed to be the worst 2 months for ad revenue via streaming.. I think those same numbers could generate 2 or 3 times as much a couple months later just by taking advantage of better ads.
Additionally I don't ever hear about incentives for getting a FXO subscription. I think you guys shouldn't be talking about money made from 66 subs but closer to 300-400 AT LEAST. Offer raffles to play with Leenock for 1-3 games, raffle off a coaching session with one of your english speaking players.. give them a seat in a custom game rotation etc etc.
Pretty awesome to post the numbers. I just hope everyone is doing their part to make them grow as much as possible!
If you're a subscriber you actually have a chance to go to the FXO house and live there for 10 days free (travelling is the only thing that cost)
And also they give out signed jackets from FXO player(s) of your choice / replay packs from a player where you get to choose the specific matchup etc. So there is a benefit of subscribing. But for me as an FXO fan I just do what I can to support them
FXO must have a special CPM rate from Twitch. My CSL LAN got about.... 1/5th the ad revenue despite having more viewership and longer broadcast times. Could possibly be less commercials, but I think the only way to explain is a special CPM rate.
EPT
