New FWT Streaming Format

Gonna wait till it comes out before I come up with my final opinion. As of now not so stoked on it. I liked watching it live as it happened, it kinda feels like you’re there. But maybe the new format will pleasantly change my mind

A condensed version could be cool, but I would prefer the option to watch it live

kind of a bummer.. i really enjoyed watching the whole thing. Will the replay still be avaliable to watch the whole thing?

Honestly, I’m not buying the, “it’s safer for the riders” bullshit. They say there’s a window where they can go and ski and when they can’t. If you know when that window is going to be, why aren’t the cameras set up beforehand? I also don’t understand the need to wait two fucking days before anyone is able to watch what actually happened.


the only people benefitting from this is the Freeride World Tour. Give it two or three more years and what’ll happen is if you want to watch the Live competition, you’ll have to pay money or wait three or four days until the edit the footage. This is just the first step to that

I wanna reserve judgement until after I see the new format. That being said, today was a sad fucking day man. Waiting all day for a stream that never came... cleared up my whole day so I knew I could watch uninterrupted. Aannd now it’s coming out tomorrow. Fuck me.

Let’s face some facts: a freeride event held in the mountains isn’t exactly conducive to livestreaming. Weather delays and spotty connection are an inherent problem, not to mention the issues that come with all livestreams (like lack of editing). There isn’t an easy way around these issues, and I’m glad FWT isn’t afraid to try something new and piss off some people in the name of progress. And to the people that are super mad that it’s not “actually live”... try to get over it. There is zero functional difference between seeing it now and later if you don’t know the result. There’s always gonna be that irrational nagging voice reminding you that it’s not live, and that might be reason enough for FWT to figure that this won’t go over well. But you as the viewer aren’t affected unless you have a personal stake in one of the riders (family member, super close friend, etc.).

On the other hand, we as the viewers aren’t expecting a polished result. The raw freeriding is part of the appeal, if I wanted more flair I’d go watch a movie segment. But I understand that FWT is a business like any other, and profit is the goal. And that’s ok—if this is what it takes to keep this event healthy and strong, then I’m all for it. I’m just a little skeptical that this will actually improve the experience for me personally.

sorry this was a total mess of words lmao but I just wanted to vent and don’t feel like formatting this properly

AlmostCoolerI wanna reserve judgement until after I see the new format. That being said, today was a sad fucking day man. Waiting all day for a stream that never came... cleared up my whole day so I knew I could watch uninterrupted. Aannd now it’s coming out tomorrow. Fuck me.

Let’s face some facts: a freeride event held in the mountains isn’t exactly conducive to livestreaming. Weather delays and spotty connection are an inherent problem, not to mention the issues that come with all livestreams (like lack of editing). There isn’t an easy way around these issues, and I’m glad FWT isn’t afraid to try something new and piss off some people in the name of progress. And to the people that are super mad that it’s not “actually live”... try to get over it. There is zero functional difference between seeing it now and later if you don’t know the result. There’s always gonna be that irrational nagging voice reminding you that it’s not live, and that might be reason enough for FWT to figure that this won’t go over well. But you as the viewer aren’t affected unless you have a personal stake in one of the riders (family member, super close friend, etc.).

On the other hand, we as the viewers aren’t expecting a polished result. The raw freeriding is part of the appeal, if I wanted more flair I’d go watch a movie segment. But I understand that FWT is a business like any other, and profit is the goal. And that’s ok—if this is what it takes to keep this event healthy and strong, then I’m all for it. I’m just a little skeptical that this will actually improve the experience for me personally.

sorry this was a total mess of words lmao but I just wanted to vent and don’t feel like formatting this properly

You’ve got some great points here I think. Logistically I’m sure it’s a nightmare to livestream from some of these locations. And as far as the content that we get to watch, you’re right that it won’t change much. All the major highlights and sweet-ass stunts are still going to be included. But like you touched on, it does change the overall feel of the event for the viewer. To compare it to other sporting events, I know that if I miss a live championship game or something like that and then watch a replay the following day instead, I have a lower level of excitement and investment in it. And with it airing at different times in different locations around the world, I imagine it will be very tough to manage spoilers from those that get to view it first. But you’re absolutely right that we need to see the finished product before making our final opinions, we have to at least give it a shot rather than being crotchety assholes that just don’t want to see change.

it's kinda bs, like if i just wanted to watch some skiers ski some big lines with a few tricks condensed into a segment I can watch that many ski movies it's not funny

part of the experience of watching fwt is that you get to see all the sketchy shit, dodgy weather and the suspense, but nah

i get it, the infrastrcture needed would be reasonably complex, and the fwt might not want a shitty, buffering stream turning people away who might have been curious, but not dedicated to sitting through that like some of us here, and that it might damage their brand

the only part that makes it kinda good is that results haven't been released, so at least when we do watch it, it will still at least seem like it happened on the day...

Y’all are overthinking it. They will still put the full runs, and then ad edited replay of the highlights between runs. Just like a slope style comp. and it will be streamed at the same time world wide so that you don’t lose the live feeling

On the glass half full side of things, one thing im looking forward to, is not missing runs and hits as a result of the connection dropping out in the mountains. I think it was only last year Thall threw down a banger run that got maybe a second and the live stream dropped for the whole thing, eventually found it somewhere on an insta well after the event.

nicofogliaY’all are overthinking it. They will still put the full runs, and then ad edited replay of the highlights between runs. Just like a slope style comp. and it will be streamed at the same time world wide so that you don’t lose the live feeling

Oh yay! I get to watch a competition that took place almost 48 hours ago “live” with the rest of the world.... whoop de fucking do. I could go to the event and IG live it on my phone... There’s already people out there who know who won and how it ended.

FWT is catered to the euro market, so the non euro comps are the testers. from a comp standpoint it makes sense, one less thing to worry about especially when you're window shopping for visibility. nothing worse than to stand in the start gate an extra 20 minutes cause they weren't ready in the window you had. in the past they've had heli and drone shots during the comp, where as now seems like they're switching to just set shots that they'll edit together to fully capture the runs. the problem with live is that sometimes cameras would be obstructed or just miss shots, so hopefully that can be reduced. also the issues of doing a live broadcast from the mountains has always been spotty in terms of keeping a steady quality stream. a lot easier when you can do it out of the base of aspen or breck with ESPN's budget for a park or pipe comp.

So is the "LIVE" youtube stream that is up on their site not actually live? It seems to be.

https://www.freerideworldtour.com/news/fwt20-hakuba-all-news

VitiligoSo is the "LIVE" youtube stream that is up on their site not actually live? It seems to be.

https://www.freerideworldtour.com/news/fwt20-hakuba-all-news

It's not live, they took all the footage from the day of the event and edited it down to "live" stream it.

I hate it

**This post was edited on Jan 20th 2020 at 4:08:32pm

The new format just lacks the energy that last years format had. Watching it today, it felt just super dead and there was a lack of stoke. Wack vibes.

eheethit's kinda bs, like if i just wanted to watch some skiers ski some big lines with a few tricks condensed into a segment I can watch that many ski movies it's not funny
.

I hate the new format for this reason.

I dont think its that bad, definitely not the same vibes as the past events but I still like watching it. Still has a contest vibe.

Honestly this format wouldn't be bad if they did the normal live stream and uploaded this as a "condensed" version for those who don't want to watch the full thing.

KretzschmarHonestly this format wouldn't be bad if they did the normal live stream and uploaded this as a "condensed" version for those who don't want to watch the full thing.

Agreed

definitely lacked the stoke of previous years. I was also expecting a much higher production value, as that was one of the reasons for the new format that Nicolas Woods mentioned. Now I feel more like it was just delayed in order to meet their expense goals. And that makes me sad

Currently watching it (without volume because I'm in a lecture hall), it's really weirdly edited? I'm not digging it. You loose the appeal of the live stream since the content is now curated, but it isn't smooth to watch either. It feels like I am watching a replay of the actual live stream with someone who is impatient and keeps skimming around.

e.litttCurrently watching it (without volume because I'm in a lecture hall), it's really weirdly edited? I'm not digging it. You loose the appeal of the live stream since the content is now curated, but it isn't smooth to watch either. It feels like I am watching a replay of the actual live stream with someone who is impatient and keeps skimming around.

Fwt aren’t core anymore. It seems like they’re trying to monetise it hard by making it more watchable (or something like that) but epicly failed.
It’s super lame too watch now and the commentary sounds so robotic.

I also miss seeing the riders stoked on a sick run as they ski into the finishing gates.

Ok and as for the commentary...It was obviously not recorded in real time at the event so the emotion in the voices sucks. For example last year when somebody would go huge the announcers would be STOKED. Now its just super monotone.

They had so many problems with the livestream at several events last year. With the challenges, logistics, and amount they likely dump from their budget they probably determined it wasn't worth it anymore. Or perhaps they just didn't get enough sponsorship revenue to pull it off.

I honestly thought it was fine. The commentary was a little suspect, but that could easily have been bad during a live webcast too.


we still saw every single run, people waiting for scores, they literally cut out people walking to their skis and any weather or technical delays.

I was very bummed to hear about the new format, but after watching it, my fears were mostly unfounded. I have YouTube premium so I didn’t see any ads, which also helped.

At least there weren’t a bunch of technical difficulties. They’re doing it for kicking horse, then back to normal.


I just don’t think it was awful as everyone said.

The conditions weren’t great, but man....Hank Bilous is a absolute madman.