Elo is spinning the propaganda BS straight out of the Kim family playbook. Next thing you know he will be claiming to have invented the sport and once shot 11 holes-in-one on a round with Kelly.

Instantly made me think of the move 'They Live'. OBEY, CONSUME, CONFORM.
@Bob, he just needs to start with "I invented surfing ... in its current form", then let the last past drop away over time.

Suspiciously, 6 million TVs and laptops were sold in the week prior to the WSL finals to a Mr D.Ziff.

With that statement, I think the format will remain in the years ahead. 6.8 million live stream video views? Anyone know what exactly a live stream video view is? I’m guessing FB advertising dept putting it on someones page is a view? Even if someone scrolls by it was there, thus a view?

Just listening to the latest ep of the Ain't That Swell podcast. Barton Lynch is on reflecting on the finals day. It's bloody brilliant. Especially his thoughts on how the whole judging system should be overhauled, ahead of changing the format.
Put BL in charge of the tour!!! Resurrect it as Rabbit did in the 90's.

Its ALL about consumption!

Work / Consume / Die

Apparently there are reports that the "shark breach" in middle of competition click bait news angle that Strider was instructed to "see" whilst Fanning was commentating accounted for 4.6 million views....

But the short sighted marketing strategy of using "shark" to grab headlines resulted in 500 million Chinese cancelling their surf school holiday bookings across major surf destinations across the world in a hectic one hour cancellation storm, thereby destroying surfing's great hope for increasing participation rates and disappointing many locals at Trestles, Snapper and Jefferies Bay keen to make new China surfing buddies.

The world-title deciding Rip Curl WSL Finals generated over 6.8 million live stream video views, breaking all previous records.

I call bullshit. When it was the final between Medina and Toledo, the viewers across the English AND Portuguese channels on YouTube (which was much bigger) didn't even eclipse 100k from memory. I don't use FB but I can't imagine it had the remaining 6.7 million viewers on the platform.

I remember because I thought how pitiful that was compared to a rugby league/AFL final where the latter used to get more in the stadium, let alone the throngs watching it at home. Then if you were to compare it to a yank Superbowl, the comparison is just sad. Even with the 'creative' viewer numbers.

I think it's likely Elo is stretching the numbers, or even flat out lying. But they *are* going to grow/increase consumption if they keep doing this. There's really isn't a noticeable sustainable/organic growth voice to counteract the wsl, so it can only go one way....

I tuned in at one point and the stream said there were only 14k watching (and it was the 2nd of the heat women's final). 6.8m views would include as a "view"someone watching for a few minutes, deciding it was boring and moving on.

It was interesting viewing if you could grasp things such as the subtleties and skill of a Toledo carve in the pocket, Medina's ability to win under pressure and enjoyed mind surfing the waves once the sun came up.

For the average viewer it was a LOT of down time between waves filled with endless commentary and meaningless interview about whatever and repetition of the meme that it was such an exciting and historic day.

In contrast, a tense match in the finals at Wimbledon almost needs no commentary or superlatives or explanation of why someone is winning.

At the risk of repetition, "consumption" of surf contests and the WSL ambitions are self limiting as they only really appeal to a niche audience, appeal to a niche audience, appeal to a niche audience, appeal to a niche audience, appeal to a niche audience, appeal to a niche audience, appeal to a niche audience, appeal to a niche audience, appeal to a niche audience .....

If that was accepted, the WSL approach might get the fit right and not grate so much with their core audience. Would still lose money of course - but that is just a given.... Now if Dirk had just invested in Apple shares in 2015 instead....

So now all the razzamataz of the olympics and the wsl finals are done, the stock standard WSL season meanders back along on it's schedule. I've just been watching a few hours of the Ericiera comp in Portugal, and, although the waves are sluggish, onshore, the surfers are either journeymen or up and comers with a smattering of top shelf pros....i gotta admit, it's damn enjoyable! There's no commentary trying to explain to me what surfing is, what priority is, what a goofy foot v a natural foot is. There's no hype. There's no big drama. It's just a surf comp, with great surfing, the odd great section, and some commentary with Pete Mel and Billy Kemper riffing about their big wave winters, with a little coaxing from that english commentator, i think it's Paul evans. It's not riveting watching, it's easy enough to get up and do shit and then return to the telly, the comp is just plodding along, slowly building. You can start to see who the standouts might be come the pointy end, you get a glimpse of some new upcoming talent,
and right now, Mason Ho is surfing his heat. And i think in essence, this is a large part of what makes pro surfing great to watch.
As nice as the hype and hoo ha was for the finals day at Trestles, it's so nice to kick back and watch good/great surfing presented in a much more relatable way to a surfing audience. Hopefully they get some good waves for the rest of the comp.

Someone should ask LT to do a comp write-up for these challenger series events. Didn't watch much of the first one at Huntington, every time I looked it seemed to be knee high onshore slop.
The second one in Portugal which finished last night was actually pretty good. Plenty of swell, Bells-ish waves. Jacko Baker came second to Zeke.
The third one is Hossegor, starts on the 13th. Forecast looks small.
Still no sign of Owen, assume he's retired? Along with Mikey, Ace, Freestone etc

I think Owen missed the cut off

Yep he missed the cut on the CT, but this years CT surfers can still compete in the challenger series to qualify for next year. Wade and Conner O'Leary missed the cut and have been in these challenger comps, as have most of the overseas guys that missed out.

Ahh ok. Cheers!! It's pretty confusing ay!!

Pretty easy to get to those reported viewer numbers.

Facebook "views" as noted above across the day.

Add on the peak viewers per heat throughout the day.

Assume all viewers on fuel TV (whether via kayo, fox, or elsewhere) all had 10 people sitting around watching with them.

Then allow for all the pubs, clubs, bars, cafes etc in the world to have been streaming it too, with an estimated 10 people per venue watching.

Power of the X peeps.