Who ever wrote up anything positive about WSL transition to Facebook streaming in the last two days must be being paid in wavepool tickets, because most the internet is throwing to angry emojis and either revolting or just giving up and switching off in their thousands.
While it is true some have had no problem judging by the comments all over social media and on WSLs website it is not a common experience.
It’s now day three and internet fans have been battering the WSL Facebook transition. It’s been a PR disaster. If FB paid $15 mill a year for a two exclusive year deal they should also have provided the tech backup a cast iron launch. Obviously they didn’t. While some have called for the WSL CEO to resign, it’s the techies that should be carrying the can.
WSL have offered apologies for the disaster, saying it has made the switch to keep the feed free, but it sounds like a PR body swerve. They even pointed out the FB data use terms, which is funny. Everyone knows what FB does with the data, and how they track users in our brave new world.
“Our switch to Facebook was to enable the entirety of our audience to continue to view each event for free, and also to further expand our fanbase throughout the world.
“That being said, we apologize for any issues you may have experienced during our transition over the last two days and we hope you continue to enjoy the Corona Open J-Bay.
Live on Desktop:
We have worked with Facebook to fix the broadcasting issue we experienced during the early rounds of the event.
We are now offering the live stream on our desktop site — with adjacent round information and heat scores — without having to login to Facebook.
“Replay and Heat Analyzer:
All heat replays can be viewed by navigating to our event detail page, and also directly by clicking here.
Many of our fans have asked about Heat Analyzer, which is also now up and running and can be viewed by clicking here.
Concurrent Viewers:
There has been much conversation about the concurrent viewership number displayed in the top-left corner of our live broadcast.
The number displayed on your stream does not represent the total concurrent audience viewing the event. Because we’re serving localized ads against our programming, what you’re seeing is the audience total for the regional stream that you’re connected to.
The total cumulative audience will be defined as the summation of all regional streams across all platforms and connected devices.
In short, what you’re seeing is a much lower number of people viewing than actually are.
Personal Information:
Facebook is a major platform for media and entertainment, similar to linear cable and satellite providers.
“They offer a variety of live and original sports programming – from PGA events to Tom vs Time – and require minimal user data to access their content offering.
“For those of you curious about what Facebook does with your personal information, please see their data privacy policy by clicking here.
Again, we would like to apologize to anyone that has experienced an issue and thank you for your patience.”
