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We have a balance on TL between how much advertising we allow and what sort of rules we have to protect our site and our users. For example, our forum rules allow organizers to post threads about tournaments. This is advertising but it's also fine, it is relevant and useful to a lot of people who view TL. But if a user or organization makes a post about their YouTube or Twitter, the balance is skewed far in favor of advertising for the organization over the utility gained by TeamLiquid users. When the advertising / utility balance is one sided like this, we require a Sponsored Thread.
Similarly, our calendar serves two main purposes, one is an information source for our users and the other as a way for events to advertise their broadcasts. We already exercise a significant amount of quality control over calendar entries, only allowing tournaments that meet certain prize structures and consistency to be added to the calendar.
Detailed Calendar Rules:
+ Show Spoiler [Calendar Rules] +
1. We require prize money (not just equipment prizes) for tournaments.
This rule exists because fans care about events with prize money. Many people put more weight in a $50 tournament than one that gives away $200 power supplies. Obviously, for certain tournaments we make exceptions, if the prize is something like a laptop and run by ESL we're going to allow it.
2. We require an embedded TL stream.
We want our users to be able to go and watch in one click. We want users to stay on TL, not be constantly redirected off site. This is good for us and good for the convenience of our users.
3. We require consistency and quality for listing shows.
We believe that when a user clicks on a calendar entry he should expect a certain level of quality, especially if it's a show based on non-gameplay content. We typically evaluate shows for the first few episodes before putting it on the calendar. There are some exceptions, the Artosis Hour being one of them, for obvious reasons.
4. We require a free stream option.
We want our users to be able to click and watch immediately, which is not the case with a PPV stream, which is only available to paying customers. We also believe in a balance between advertising and utility for our site and our users.
This rule exists because fans care about events with prize money. Many people put more weight in a $50 tournament than one that gives away $200 power supplies. Obviously, for certain tournaments we make exceptions, if the prize is something like a laptop and run by ESL we're going to allow it.
2. We require an embedded TL stream.
We want our users to be able to go and watch in one click. We want users to stay on TL, not be constantly redirected off site. This is good for us and good for the convenience of our users.
3. We require consistency and quality for listing shows.
We believe that when a user clicks on a calendar entry he should expect a certain level of quality, especially if it's a show based on non-gameplay content. We typically evaluate shows for the first few episodes before putting it on the calendar. There are some exceptions, the Artosis Hour being one of them, for obvious reasons.
4. We require a free stream option.
We want our users to be able to click and watch immediately, which is not the case with a PPV stream, which is only available to paying customers. We also believe in a balance between advertising and utility for our site and our users.
Free vs Pay Stream
We have always maintained our calendar as a listing of free streams. There is a balance struck between giving events additional exposure to get more viewers through calendar entries and the benefit of information of what event is on at all times for TL users. Obviously, and this goes without saying, the MLG Winter Arena would be listed if it had a free stream option.
However, when an event does not present a free option, this disrupts balance between advertising and utility. We believe that the calendar entry becomes much more of an advertising tool for the event and less of an informational resource for our users. Our calendar is a useful tool because you can see what's being broadcast, click, and watch without ever leaving our site. This protects TL from being used primarily for advertising and it's how we want to sustain our traffic while also providing a good experience for our users. A pay-only stream removes this convenience and protection and only is useful for a minority of users, and that is why we decided to treat it more like advertising, i.e. a Sponsored Event.
Accordingly, we don't list events with pay-only streams and no free option. We didn't for GSL's Arena of Legends when it was briefly pay only, and we won't for future events that do not provide a free option. We treat these calendar listings similar to promotional topics that would go in Sponsored Threads. Ultimately what is keeping TL online is our ability to sustain ourselves on minimal advertising, and when a TL service provides significant advertising value over and above simple utility for our users, we will charge for that service (for example a sponsored thread, or countdown clock, or paid-stream link).
MLG's Referral Program
MLG presented a referral system for their stream buys. For several reasons, TL decided not to participate in their referral program. In short, we had reservations with a PPV model with no free stream option as well as with the pricing of it, and thus we didn't feel we could fully ask our users to support it through a TL affiliate link. TL's way has always been to only throw our weight behind something we 100% support and agree with, and this wasn't one of those cases.
This doesn't mean we disagree with MLG trying this PPV model out. We welcome them to try it and we're eager to see the effects, but that is not the same thing as endorsing it ourselves. In fact, we believe they will likely make their numbers for it. MLG is doing something nobody has attempted before and we completely understand why they are giving it a shot. However, we simply could not in good conscience tell our users to "support us" by buying something that we didn't 100% believe in. We have always said that our users and our reputation to them is our most valuable resource, and you guys have supported us a ton already by being a great community, visiting our site, and buying a ton of stuff from our store.
Conclusion
We believe that a PPV-only stream listing is advertising that outweighs the contribution and utility to our calendar. While MLG understood our viewpoint, they disagreed with our decision to charge for PPV stream calendar advertising. Nevertheless, we simply cannot treat PPV-only listings the same as events with free options, just as we can't treat Sponsored Threads the same as normal threads. We hope you understand why the event is not on our calendar, and we apologize in advance for any inconvenience it causes for those paying for and watching the Winter Arena.
We will still cover the event in news because we believe the function of our news section is also to show people something they couldn't or didn't watch, while the function of the calendar is to show something users can watch. We owe it to our users to cover an event with such an elite player pool and production value as MLG. It's arguably even more important for people to read news coverage of this event because some won't even be watching it.
To be clear, we are still in a close and open relationship with MLG, we communicate with their staff daily. In the end, we TL staff are fans too, and some of the best experiences we've had have been watching and attending MLGs. We hope that MLG finds a revenue model that allows them to keep running successful events.
