VOL. 52 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 6, 2015 P85
So while it was a massive blow to lose a
TV package for its biggest (and most hotly
debated) title, it laid the groundwork for a
future of online streaming for road racing,
flat track and hillclimb series in the U.S.
that may have never happened if the TV
package was there.
"It's something that sounds so easy, but
in reality is not," Crouch said about online
streaming. "There's this whole juggling
match that goes on behind the scene with
TV rights and online streaming. And usually
there are a lot of roadblocks for live cover-
age, or even online race coverage after the
event."
And for a first effort, the numbers were
good.
"The initial weekend was a success,
the live stream of the AMA Pro Flat Track
doubleheader, Daytona 200 and IMSA at
Sebring generated audience numbers that
were respectable even by cable TV stan-
dards," Crouch said. "Since then, we have
seen a steady increase in viewership, and
AMA Pro Flat Track's social media numbers
have significantly increased, with our big-
gest gains coming in the youth and interna-
tional demographics."
It's not a new concept that fans want live
sports, but now there's this need to have
it on the go, and with these handy smart-
phone devices you have that ability. As
such the demand for online streaming has
grown exponentially.
"When I started doing online streaming, I
thought, if I was going to consume content
I'd want to consume it where I want, when
I want, and on whatever device I want. And
you can't do that with TV," he said. "TV is
obviously the most important media in the
United States and the world. It's the jug-
gernaut. But live streaming has definitely
been gaining a lot of momentum. I feel that
we've got to get this content in front of as
many people as we can and it's got to be
as convenient as possible for them. In this
ADD [attention deficit disorder] generation,
to get the next generation of motorcycle
enthusiasts and racing enthusiasts, they
want to consume content literally if they're
sitting on a bus."
Crouch added that it's not only live
streaming; the content has to be at your
fingertips whenever you want it.
"It's not that they don't want to
see it if there's not a live stream,
they also want to watch the race
later on that night when they
get home. They want to tell their
friends about it. So this content
has to be readily available. It
has to be everywhere. TV is
absolutely important and we
recognize that and we're work-
ing to get this content [AMA Pro
Flat Track] on television, but my
focus is to get this content in the
hands of the consumers imme-
diately and in as many forms as
possible."
In addition to racing, online
Last year's setup was out in the elements.
