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Colchester chairman statement re ifollow

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toontown
September 22, 2020, 12:16pm
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And on top of the issues mentioned was the wrong instructions, broken links and very poorly designed website.  I persevered with it but it was really  annoying and in any other context I would have just said sod it. The club no doubt losing money from this too.

The club really has to get it's act together on this.
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toontown
September 22, 2020, 12:33pm
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Looks like they ended up refunding the vast majority to fans at Colchester, whereas most of our fans let the club keep the money didn't they? Some sobering figures in there finance wise if you are a Colchester fan. Wonder what sort of money town are raising in terms of I follow sales.
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NorthLondonMariner
September 22, 2020, 12:41pm
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Quoted from pen penfras


I know a lot of people are saying this, so there must be something to it, but I've watched the last 3 matches on a 32 inch tv with near HD quality, no buffering issues, just the audio issue that was on the radio too. It has been like this for every match over the last couple of seasons.

Maybe my connection is better, or something else is going on, but for me, the quality is very good


Same for me. have watched every game on a 32inch TV via HDMI cable from my laptop and have had no issues at all.
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mimma
September 22, 2020, 1:01pm
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Why are people blaming the club? Surely all the issues mentioned are down to Ifollow which is out of the control of the club.
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Masirah Mariner
September 22, 2020, 1:06pm
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Interesting to read other people’s experiences and opinions on iFollow. As an overseas user for 3 years, the season pass price has gone up from £110 for 18-19 & 19-20 to the current price of £140 for the 20-21 season. That’s a little over 27% increase for this year, but no complaints from me. Times are crazy right now.

Over those 3 years I’ve only had one or two issues around login and do recall the radio coverage dropping out several times, but I accept that it is what it is. From my perspective, It was a streaming service set up for a limited set of overseas club supporters that’s having to rapidly adapt and grow to support an unpredictable and inconsistent market. Comparison with Boxing Day Amazon Prime premier league coverage is like comparing apples and pears when we consider target audience and finance.

Shame to hear fellow fans have had frustrating experiences recently but iFollow has kept me sane the last few years, even if some of the games have been painful to watch. I’ve found the live chat on the iFollow tab through the GTFC OS was always helpful.

I’d appreciate our board making a similar statement / comment to help clarify and understand the clubs position on iFollow. Do our overseas season passes also count towards the 500 home fans referenced etc.

UTM
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WayneBurnettsJockstrap
September 22, 2020, 1:24pm

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Quoted from Masirah Mariner
As an overseas user for 3 years, the season pass price has gone up from £110 for 18-19 & 19-20 to the current price of £140 for the 20-21 season. That’s a little over 27% increase for this year, but no complaints from me. Times are crazy right now.


Does the overseas pass just include the home games or all the away games too?
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pen penfras
September 22, 2020, 1:25pm

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Quoted from Masirah Mariner
Interesting to read other people’s experiences and opinions on iFollow. As an overseas user for 3 years, the season pass price has gone up from £110 for 18-19 & 19-20 to the current price of £140 for the 20-21 season. That’s a little over 27% increase for this year, but no complaints from me. Times are crazy right now.

Over those 3 years I’ve only had one or two issues around login and do recall the radio coverage dropping out several times, but I accept that it is what it is. From my perspective, It was a streaming service set up for a limited set of overseas club supporters that’s having to rapidly adapt and grow to support an unpredictable and inconsistent market. Comparison with Boxing Day Amazon Prime premier league coverage is like comparing apples and pears when we consider target audience and finance.

Shame to hear fellow fans have had frustrating experiences recently but iFollow has kept me sane the last few years, even if some of the games have been painful to watch. I’ve found the live chat on the iFollow tab through the GTFC OS was always helpful.

I’d appreciate our board making a similar statement / comment to help clarify and understand the clubs position on iFollow. Do our overseas season passes also count towards the 500 home fans referenced etc.

UTM


Does that £140 include watching all games live? Home and away? If so, that's absolutely peanuts and imo is very cheap. When you compare it to £460 to watch every league game this season from the UK, it is actually quite baffling why your price is so cheap. Apologies if it doesn't include the matches, but I was fairly sure it does...
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Masirah Mariner
September 22, 2020, 1:41pm
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It includes all League 2 games for Town, home and away. We get BBC Humberside audio for the cup matches - no video streams.

Not sure what offers are available to UK viewers, but it’s something that the board should consider (perhaps collectively with other teams and leagues), following the recent government announcement not to allow fans just yet. Anything to help the clubs finances.

UTM
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arryarryarry
September 22, 2020, 1:45pm
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Quoted from toontown
And on top of the issues mentioned was the wrong instructions, broken links and very poorly designed website.  I persevered with it but it was really  annoying and in any other context I would have just said sod it. The club no doubt losing money from this too.

The club really has to get it's act together on this.


I don't think the club have much control or even any over IFollow.
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diehardmariner
September 22, 2020, 3:05pm
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Quoted from Masirah Mariner
Interesting to read other people’s experiences and opinions on iFollow. As an overseas user for 3 years, the season pass price has gone up from £110 for 18-19 & 19-20 to the current price of £140 for the 20-21 season. That’s a little over 27% increase for this year, but no complaints from me. Times are crazy right now.

Over those 3 years I’ve only had one or two issues around login and do recall the radio coverage dropping out several times, but I accept that it is what it is. From my perspective, It was a streaming service set up for a limited set of overseas club supporters that’s having to rapidly adapt and grow to support an unpredictable and inconsistent market. Comparison with Boxing Day Amazon Prime premier league coverage is like comparing apples and pears when we consider target audience and finance.

Shame to hear fellow fans have had frustrating experiences recently but iFollow has kept me sane the last few years, even if some of the games have been painful to watch. I’ve found the live chat on the iFollow tab through the GTFC OS was always helpful.

I’d appreciate our board making a similar statement / comment to help clarify and understand the clubs position on iFollow. Do our overseas season passes also count towards the 500 home fans referenced etc.

UTM


Sorry but I disagree, the comparisons are fair.

More than ever, people are tightening their belts. Decisions were made before of 'do I have this, or this?' but even more so at the minute.

The comparisons are relevant because if the option is of £10 on the unpredictable iFollow game or a weekend pass for Sky Sports, eventually the good will for those purchasing iFollow is going to fade away.

Let's say on an average month Town will play 6 games, especially once we get into the nitty gritty of this season.  That's £60 a month for six games.  I'm pretty sure if you shopped around you could get Sky Sports, BT Sports and your Amazon Prime package for a month at that price.  Let's face it, that's every Premier League game played.  Plus whatever else you're going to get on those platforms.

I take your point about the intended audience but that intended audience has adjusted.  It's no longer hoping to capture the small number of non UK residents.  It's a capture all approach and the only likely source of matchday income all clubs are going to have this season.  It's not enough to approach a 2020 problem with a 2010 solution.  Other clubs who aren't in the iFollow umbrella seem to have done quite well with their streaming platforms.  Back end of last season I saw clubs as low down as the Conference North and South doing their own streams.

The really sad thing is that unless the product is bullet proof, people won't continue to pay the tenner for it.  They'll either get it through IPTV sources (no income for the club) or just lose faith altogether and take their money elsewhere (no income for the club + potentially decrease of fan base).

This isn't a dig at GTFC.  I think they're probably as frustrated with the service as some of us are.  But the Football League need to enforce that a better platform is provided.
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