The Championship Tours lose their umbrella sponsor
This morning Beach Grit are reporting that Samsung, the WSL's primary sponsor, will discontinue their involvement with professional surfing. Samsung have been the title sponsor for both the Men's and Women's tours since 2014.
In early 2015 the WSL announced they'd secured Samsung for a "multi-year" deal.
Beach Grit journalist Michael Ciaramella contacted Dave Prodan from WSL media who confirmed Samsung's decision:
"Samsung will not be the title sponsor for the Championship Tour in 2017. Samsung has been a great partner for the surfing community over the past three years, elevating the sport to new heights and honoring the community’s heritage. We thank them for their partnership and look forward to an exciting 2017 season."
Prodan also added that they were "excited about upcoming announcements in the commercial space. More to come when available.”
The WSL has often left the announcement of major sponsors to the last minute. At times it was unknown who the sponsors were until the advertising hoarding was erected at Snapper Rocks.
The WSL is also scouting for a new CEO following Paul Speaker's surprise resignation in January. WSL benefactor Dirk Ziff is occupying the role till a new CEO is found.
The first event of the 2017 Championship Tour, the Quiksilver Pro, begins on the 14th of March.
Comments
Samsung have enough problems of their own right now.
I reckon one of the big energy drink companies will take it on.
Samsung CEO indicted on corruption charges:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-28/korean-prosecutors-indict-samsung-s-lee-on-corruption-charges
Red Bull have the coin but I highly doubt they'd step in. There's been a lot of bad blood between them and the WSL, plus RB like to 'own' events, run them their way through their channels, as opposed to just being an umbrella sponsor stumping up the cash and a few billboards.
I think you were writing up a comment recently re: the tour viability as it currently exists but were beset with tech difficulties.
Would love to read it now...
See below, crg.
everybody knows that the Samsung deal was just peanuts , about $3m max , Samsung are still one of the worlds great sporting sponsors , they just sponsored womens netball , but surfing is a sport that seems to be going backwards , its not a youth sport , there just seems to no return all all for Samsung , which is a reflection of where surfing is going , the bubble has burst for the industries , declining sales , no one making profit anymore , this the ongoing clean out of all the peripheral surf brand and business's ,the big question is what happens if Dirk just pulls the pin , more to come ?
Maybe the WSL should go old school and get a raincoat sponsor instead. The last longer than umbrella's and don't blow inside out in high winds.
Have the tour in locations only in wet season.
Good point Terrance, and you're much less likely to accidentally poke someone in the eye.
OK, this was a reply to a question Lanky Dean asked a few weeks back about the viability of the WSL:
When ZoSea acquired the old ASP in 2013 Paul Speaker said, “one of the first things we did is invest heavily in Repucom.” Repucom are a sports marketing firm, in fact they are “the global leader in sports measurement, evaluation and intelligence”, according to their website.
The research told the WSL how large their likely online audience would be, also who it would be, and hence how big they could grow the sport. The following passage is from an article I wrote in 2014:
“Last October ZoSea's Chief Marketing Officer, Michael Lynch, was interviewed by Marketing Daily and said of surfing's fan base, “the ASP found through research via Repucom that there are 130 million “hand raisers,” and 120 million bona fide fans of the sport.” As for the future, Lynch said in the same interview that “we are in business to celebrate and grow the sport worldwide; there's a potential to have some 250 million real fans.”
The number 120 million has become gospel in WSL circles. Type “WSL, 120 million” into Google and check the search returns - it’s used everywhere. Recently I received a press release advertising a WSL longboard event in Papua New Guinea that would attract “120 million online viewers”.
Longboard.
Papua New Guinea.
120 million.
...my guess is they’ll top out at around 5,000 viewers.
I know the actual number of online viewers is significantly less than what the WSL says because in 2014 I ran a series of article that empirically debunked those figures. In response the WSL began using Neulion instead of YouTube to webcast and the viewing numbers were no longer available. Still, we’ve found other means - which I can’t disclose here - to find that while the audience has risen slightly it’s still well down from 120 million. At a guess the CTs attract maybe a couple of million, tops.
First of all, how could Repucom get the data so wrong?
My theory is they’ve assumed that just because someone surfs then they would like to watch surfing. So in Repucom’s eyes if there are 120 million surfers in the world then there are 120 million people who would like to watch surfing. However, that assertion is flawed.
For instance, the Sweeney report says there are 2.5 million surfers in Australia. Surfing Australia (the organisation) then takes that number to govt for funding. The govt grants it thinking they’ve given funding to all 2.5 million surfers in Australia, yet there are only 19,000 members of Surfing Australia - being those who surf in boardriders clubs.
It’s a simple thing for you and I to grasp: just because you surf doesn’t mean you compete. Similarly, just because you surf doesn’t mean you want to watch pro surfing, especially when it’s run sporadically across various time zone (which introduces a whole other hurdle to viewership).
But the WSL can't fool the market the way that Surfing Australia is fooling the government. The companies need to know the real figures because they want ROI.
And that, I believe, is the inconvenient truth that’s now dawning on the WSL and it’s sponsors. There simply isn’t the audience that their research told them there is, three years of real time experience is proving this, and it’s why the current incarnation of the WSL is tenuous.
There’s far more going on in this space but that’s the brain dump version...
Commendations Stu.
The entire surf industry / media and you're basically the only journalist pursuing this with any vigor.
More than that, you're the dog with the bone that is needed when dealing with the privately owned company that controls surfing to the degree that it potentially has more voice in locations than the surfers that actually live in those regions.
Fuck the WSL.
Uhhh, but I sure do love to watch a nice streamed contest.
Yeah, well we paid a penalty of sorts for those original articles: I got banned from all WSL events, as did any photographer working for us, and our name was mud among people in those circles.
So I can kinda see why other publications didn't pursue it - times were/are particularly tough. What I don't get is the resolute silence from everyone when the WSL stood tall and said they were going to grow the sport to double what it is now.
People complain about wavepools, surf cameras, surf schools, GSI, forecast sites and how they attract crowds but here was the WSL proudly stating they were gonna double the world surf population and it passed without question.
Fortunately it hasn't worked out, for the reasons outlined above, though they'll have one last shot if the WSL can quickly develop comp level wavepools.
Still, things like that make me realise my misanthropy is well founded...
A badge of honour to be banned Stu. Wear it proudly. Some people still sneer at me for what I wrote in the seventies. Makes me laugh every time.
I think after your series of articles which showed Speaker and the WSL was basically full of eleven different kinds of shit when it came to inflating viewer numbers - a series of articles which was widely quoted, at least in the surf media I consumed- people took the claim that WSL was going to "double the sport" as a complete joke.
It was pretty obvious after Year One that the WSL incarnation was burning through Ziff's capital whilst showing very little signs of making money.
You might be surprised at how little traffic those articles acheived, Steve. Sure, they were circulated amongst those who are active within surf culture, but they weren't a scratch on our stories with broad appeal.
Also, many people knew Speaker was full of shit but no-one could say with complete certainty that the WSL's mainstream gamble wouldn't work. No-one semed to make the link, or they wilfully ignored it, that if the WSL were as successful as hoped it would've been a fucken hazard for existing surfers.
I can't recall a single article questioning their tactics.
There's your answer to why people blow up about cams, surf schools, forecast sites etc etc and not the threat of some knob claiming to double an already fictitious number of surfers - zero cred among those with any nouse. Thankfully the average 'surfer' is more perceptive than they get credit for, and recognise a genuine threat from a baseless claim
But were you tweeted by Paul Speaker complaining about FAKE NEWS!
@stunet,
Thank you for response! Interesting times ahead........for pro surfing.
Thanks Stu — Good work!
I neglected then, but shan't now, brilliant writing Stu.
Where's Blasphemy Rottmouth when you need him? Those were heady days in the Swellnet forums...
@stunet,
Did you notice the 2017 Volcom pipe pro was using the Red Bull player ?
Sure did LD, and you can be sure that particular union, which includes two companies that have brushed up against the WSL in various ways, wouldn't have occurred two or three years back.
Re the New Guinea comp supposedly competitors accomodation is tents ?
Some not very impressed longboarders.
Their biggest problem is exactly the ROI. What corporate product outside of a surfing product would be consumed by a WSL follower?
I have absolutely no inclination to buy a Samsung or a Jeep because I surf or watch a comp. Viewers would purchase in line with the sponsors of their favourite surfer perhaps but wouldn't give two shits about an umbrella tour sponsor.
What are their possible/future revenue streams? Minus Dirky's cash what happens?
All major sports are funded by tv or streaming deals. An annual subscription fee to stream comps is surely coming soon...
Not much crg. Maybe beer! The reality is no one is going to buy a network/streaming deal if only a relatively few people are going to be watching it. I see a WSL crash coming.
Love the language . . . "a great partner for the surfing community"
Well done Stu, I had wondered (and appreciated) the lack of wsl contfest content on SN over the years and there's the reason! The sooner that the WA gov wakes up to itself and cans paying for the Margs contest the better too in my opinion, take the point for the better part of a month in our prime season, as if it's not crowded enough already. Fuck the wsl!
Stu, when you write "Still, things like that make me realise my misanthropy is well founded..." I think you need to take a step back, you are one of the few people I read who actually do what can be regarded as investigative journalism on surfing. You should be proud.
If you read any of any of the muppet marketing attached to Urbn Surf's wave pool in WA, you will see a direct correlation with WSL's Speaker speak. That's where professional surfing's money will be heading in my opinion. I imagine Dirk Ziff will be massaging his red clay into making the WSL look like a going-concern, with main stream add-on's like wave pools and Olympics to muddy to the realities of the current pro/am tours. Why wouldn't you when a sport that has been "commercialised" for 50 years can only raise $3m for headline sponsorship?
For the rest of us; at its core surfing is an individual pursuit that's reliant on a fickle ocean, with "no crowds" as one of the cornerstones of its experience. At some point I hope the current generation of young surfers get that and restrict their use of social media to expose all aspects of their surfing life's.
hi campbell.i get your point about the circus coming to town.but i think the wa govt. look at looking atit from a purely economic tourist view.i.e pumping up the margaret river region as a great place to go.i remember most of the ads were built around the great food and winery experiences to be had and i for one was pretty impressed and still remember the campaign nearly one year later.clipsal adelaide has been doing it for years at incredible cost to the govt. but well balanced out with the tourist economic benefits.just playing the devils advocate here as a realist.,ya don,t get nothing for nothing.
Hiya toneranger. Having spent a good many years in tourism marketing I can say that government support for major events yields most returns by people coming to town for the actual event. The Clipsal, Tour Down Under, the Grand Prix etc. bring millions into the State from tens of thousands of interstate and overseas visitors. There's no surfing event in the world that would bring in those numbers. The advertising and promotion of a region really only creates awareness of the destination. Margret River has the two-fold challenge of being far from anywhere and it's food and wine offerings aren't that different from what SA, NSW, Vic and even Tassie offer. I'm not saying it's not a great experience — it just hasn't a compelling enough reason for a lot of east coast people to commit to. Not to mention surfers are amongst the lowest yielding travelers of all demographics. (Thankfully) surfing will never be a mass spectator sport.
Interesting info JM,
Lots of data crunching to find out that surfers spend their money on Travel, Boards, Wetsuits, Accommodation, Food. (in no particular order) Then surfers spend more money on boards wetsuits airfares rental cars accommodation.
Highest yielding wave count of the demographics....
I am curious what the minimum level of interest in professional surfing is required for it to sustain itself, let alone turn a profit? Stu earlier estimated "At a guess the CTs attract maybe a couple of million, tops."
Is that enough to attract sponsors and for Zoosea/WSL to keep this going? Or is it on a slow trip to insolvency? It's often suggested on this site that wealthy investors are propping the tour up already... can it survive without them? It feels like the answer is no.
My engagement in pro surfing since ZooSea took over is really just passing interest. I might tune in if I hear the waves are gonna be good, but that's about it. I was really turned off by the apparent coup when they took over the ASP, and removed all the Aussies who were previously running things. Deep down I know that the ASP wasn't sustainable either (contest licenses couldn't be sold) but it feels like ZooSea is only interested in growing professional surfing so they can make a profit, rather than trying to make surfing better. It doesn't make me want to support them.
Well said mate, my interest levels have dropped dramatically since the whole Zoesea/mass commercialisation of surfing began. We need less ppl surfing not more, money hungry flogs that that want to crowd lineups for $$$ can eat a dick, the sooner the pin gets pulled the better.
Fair call TR but the economics of the contest coming to and benefiting? our town have always been an overblown excuse as I see it. Most of the infrastructure from elsewhere, thrisky and his minions lock the point up, put on their vip tags and swan around the joint for a month thinking they are the dogs bollocks, sure the shire head honchos and local royalty get a feed from the trough and hang in the tent and I guess they get to rent out their investment properties too , throw the local contest club surfers a bone and let them clean up the trash maybe help park cars or the like but tourist wise? Couple hundred come watch the contest live(if Kelly or someone interesting shows up) meanwhile climbing all over the cliffs and dunes we spend the rest of the year keeping off (rehabilitating), bunch of venders rock up from somewhere , online audience watch and get exposed to the advertising with retiree pro surfers swishing wine or being awestruck by a kangaroo farting which I guess is the part the state gov thinks is going to make them their money back and some? (as if fucking the place up with its supertowns expansion policy isn't enough already) But really? All that being said the one positive is that they finally clean all the backpackers and their shit out of the carpark after a long summer. Bring on winter.
I have to say that I've lived and surfed on the gold coast for the past 35 years but I stopped surfing Snapper through Greenmount ( or as i call it the Stupor Bank) probably 10 to 15 years ago due to the amount of waves per person (or lack of) and even then not being able to enjoy your wave to the fullest (70% of your time is spent dodging other fuckers paddling across where you want to be or you're fighting off drop ins!)
That said, i have to say i do get inspiration watching Mick, Joel, Kelly, JJF and co. tear it up without the crowds in the water. i also love the atmosphere on the beach during the quiky pro and lets face it the circus attracts a few other optic pleasures as well. Of course i cant travel to every other stop on the tour, but i do like watching all of the wsl events. (live through the wsl website or on foxsports when possible and if i cant watch it live I record it)
I also love the thought of WSL coming up with stadium type events like Nitro Circus or Crusty's etc. "Get your tickets folks for the Red Bull Air Show - featuring JJF & Medina head to head!!!" I reckon that'd put a few bums on seats!
Lets be honest here, who's logged on and watched and who has never?
Before the asp became wsl I rarely saw any footage of any comps so i'm stoked with it.
Am i the only one who likes the idea of a WSL and hopes it doesn't die a painful death???
Hi Ishred, I do like being able to watch the WSL on my computer but it sucks heaps of data and the unfortunate need for the ocean to cooperate makes it difficult to become a true spectator sport. It would be really hard to sell the tv rights to something that is so unreliable. It's awesome when it's pumping regularly but a lot of the time it's average and a lot of waiting for something to happen. I surf in South Australia so the crowds aren't really a problem, I am currently in Noosa for the festival and the crowds are horrible.
I think the WSL has a place amongst the other sports, but in a minor league. Obviously putting on the corporate muscle suit and trying to slick up a sport that they don't own, but would like to, is not going to work just because that's their chosen business model and they have the cash. Surfing doesn't fit into corporate packages so easily. For a start the oceans don't co-operate because you've got bags of money, or a stable of surf stars etc. , which makes watching big events such as Pipe, Snapper etc held in groveling conditions less than interesting. I think they would be better off holding 3 major events a year, Bells, Fiji and Pipe with much longer waiting periods so it's going to be held in pumping conditions, similar to the Eddy and which gives the break and the athletes dignity and respect, and us something to look forward to.
Kelly's magic wave pool is in everyone's mind as the ace up the WSL sleeve as the future of it's enterprise, but I think watching the same 3' drop perfect barrel being punched out over and over will get as boring as watching paint dry. It'll have to get better than that.
Ash, spot on re the wave pool event. Same thing over and over.
The fact that surfing events are on live at all I find baffling. I've watched it sparingly and 99.9% is so boring, watching two (or four) surfers sitting on their boards bobbing up and down, paddling for waves they decide not to catch, paddling back out, a heat for about 2 minutes total action, awful commentary, then the world's most boring post heat interviews by the world's most boring interviewers.
Compare the WSL against the big 3 team sports in the US (NFL/NBA/MLB), Australia (NRL/AFL/Cricket) and the European and South American addiction to soccer, the fact that the WSL makes the TV screens suprises me. 3.5m viewers? Can't dispute it but I find it dubious. You would get higher viewers globally playing low division soccer on TV.
Not withstanding the fact that you're comparing team sports with an individual sport like surfing, I think you're spot on with regards to the lack of action. I don't understand how sports such as tennis, golf, swimming etc get such huge audiences while in their essence, they are pretty boring and repetitive, but they do.
I think wave pools will go someway towards addressing the lack of action live surfing suffers from but it's an uphill battle. Most people at one point in time have either kicked a ball or swung a bat or racket, enabling them to somewhat identify with the sport they watch. Nothing is truer than the saying "only a surfer knows the feeling", so getting non-surfers to watch pro surfing is akin to pushing shit uphill with a sharp stick.
Agree with your thoughts re tennis and golf, but they have more action in them than surfing. I put the WSL up against the big team sports because that is what they are competing against for an eye on a screen. I'd never expect the WSL to get more viewers than these programmed sports.
The point you make about getting non surfers to watch is correct, the WSL are having a hard enough time getting surfers to tune in.
Na the average joe is really lazy,can play a bit of golf or tennis but would rather sit on the lounge and watch it because they can relate but surfing is a very energetic sport that they cant and dont want to relate to....thank God.
surfing is no longer a youth sport , until the WSL realizes that surfing has no an older demographic , being gen X and baby boomers , their product is only aimed at GenY and the millenials , who would not spend a fraction of what BB and X do.
This also showing in the sales of surf brands , who continue to have shrinking revenues , less market share , so the bubble has burst , and there needs to be a serious rething of where the sport of surfing is going , the short term future will be less sponsorship $'s for athletes , a large cut in the CT tour and more layoff in the surf industry, some times reality is a bitch!
Just life shark, means need to get a job and balance surfing with every other thing in life. I love watching the good contests but the WSL have it all wrong trying to make it like footy. It isn't and never will be. Lets be honest the WSL has zero cool factor and so have the big brands. Rip Curl clothing is bordering on daggy and like it or not, cool has always been a big part of surfing, which the Deus brigade have captured and are making cash out of for good reason - it is cool or hip to a wide demographic. I buy the clothing and I am getting near 60 (don't ride one of their dog boards though). Wouldn't be seen dead in anything from the big old boys and as for those really shitty WSL things.....enough said.
agree totally , sorta sad that surfing didn't have an Yvonne Chouinard/Patagoinia and build a business that could be handed down to the grommets , instead of them inheriting burnt out brands !
an accurate review memla, are we going to see the wsl and big brands in tow reach out to the "mid-west wave pool" audience and completely disregard the core audience. Skating has shown us that soon as big brands start negating the core aspect of their brand shit goes downhill real quick. World Industries a la Target ring any bells? This would create a divided dynamic with surf brands for non surfers and surf brands for surfers. Could we extend this logic to lineups once brands persue it?