By now, you at least have a Netflix account, but more likely you’re paying for a number of subscriptions to feed your craving for content.
The way we consume content has changed drastically over the last ten years. We don’t have to wait for it and we can watch/listen/read on our own schedules.
Netflix boasts over 208million users and counting and as more major companies up their online content game – it’s clear what the consumer wants.
Why is this relevant to a Celtic Website?
I have long held the belief Celtic have slept on the untapped potential of their back catalogue and ability to bring in another source of revenue that would ultimately benefit the club.
The Hoops have a vast library of games from the past – not to mention DVD and Video releases from back in the day that are now consigned to a cupboard or loft in many Celtic fans homes.
The multimedia department at the club is run similarly to the first team over the past ten years – let’s do just enough, and maybe a little less. This isn’t a knock on the people inside the multimedia department who are working with their hands tied behind their back at times – but by the people who hold the purse strings and have no idea they’re missing a trick.
If the club invested in the resources to go through these catalogues of content – maybe even unseen footage and bring it into a Celtic network type scenario online – it would hook a lot of Celtic fans who currently trawl through youtube.
There’s an opportunity to build on the content – delivering interviews with players who played in the games and giving a fresh perspective in a documentary type fashion
Celtic are still stuck on selling DVDs to their fan base, and I don’t know about anyone else, but if I didn’t have a computer console in my home – I would have no means to watch a DVD these days.
There are so many different ways the club could go with it and charge a monthly subscription. Right now – Celtic TV inside the UK and Ireland is absolutely pointless. Those elsewhere – simply subscribe for the live games.
I’m not advocating for a return to the CelticTV of the past when it was on your cable channel – started at 6pm and had embarrassingly low production value. Look at football documentaries ‘Sunderland til I die’ and ‘Class of ’92’ and ‘The Three Kings’ – engaging and professional content creation is at play in all of them – just to name a few.
WWE Network is a great example of a company using and monetizing its own footage from thirty years ago and earlier. They come up with new ways to showcase their library and their documentary-style original content is well produced.
It would be wise of the club to look into such a streaming service and maybe have the infrastructure in place to develop the streaming channel as they go.
I hold out no hope of the ‘Celtic Network’ coming into existence any time soon. But there will come a time when DVD sales flatline and the club are chasing themselves – probably charging £10+ to watch one featured DVD type programme online – then it will be freely shared among those who know how to get a hold of the footage.
Streaming services locks people in – if there’s a simplistic and quick way to watch great Celtic content – fans will buy in.
