IN 2021, NOT long after they began this venture, a GAA streaming site was facing extinction.
The coverage of two games had not gone well due to technical faults. Prospects weren’t looking favourable. For Jimmy Doyle and his crew at Clubber, this was entirely new territory. The ways of TV and broadcasting were not his skillset. Doyle, a Tipperary native, was a tech guy with computer studies and economics qualifications, who had worked in Microsoft for 25 years.
He identified a gap in the market, one that could serve GAA fans in a revolutionary way. And since he always wanted to run his own business, he made his move. He was initially tinkering with technology for GAA analysis and still has plans to go further into that field. But more on that later.
His innovation led to the birth of Clubber in 2020, a GAA streaming site with a few games on their books to break them into the industry. The hard launch followed in 2021.
But that was just the introduction. Now they were taking on bigger matches, and bigger expectations. Bearing the hostility of the unsatisfied sports fan would be the cost if he wanted to persist with this project.
“It’s a brutal market,” he says reflecting back on the lessons he gained from those wobbles in 2021. “If fans can’t get access to a game, there’s hell to pay.”
The streaming of GAA games was a much-needed tonic for fans during the Covid pandemic. Crowds were banished from the grounds due to the risks of spreading the virus, but people could still watch the games through services like Clubber, and their competitor Streamsport.
As restrictions eased, and fans had permission to attend matches again, one would presume that the public appetite for the streaming option would lessen. Or perhaps fade out entirely.
But here we are, some three years on from the last Covid lockdown in Ireland, and these companies are still thriving. If anything, the audience number has swelled.
Aoife Dillane [Kerry all Ireland winner], Eddie Moroney [Effin Eddie] and Mick Linehan [commentator] on duty for Clubber.
It lines up with Jimmy Doyle’s vision. He never saw this as something that would survive on a temporary demand. He knew that GAA fans were hungry for more content.
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Currently, Clubber has GAA streaming deals with 11 counties, a number that has grown steadily since their first foray into the racket. Last weekend, they hit the 1,000-game mark when they streamed the Offaly U20 hurling final between Kilcormac Killoughey and Shinrone.
For Streamsport owner Raffaele Rocca, he suspected that the viewership figures might “level off” in a post-Covid world, but different factors have allowed the business to soar. Similar to Doyle, technology has always appealed to him although he does have a background in media. A newsreader in his younger days, he holds a Masters in Journalism from UL before later becoming the editor of Sporting Limerick. Streamsport is a derivative of that outlet. His interesting name came from his Italian father who emigrated to Ireland in the 1970s and opened a Fish & Chip shop which Raffaele continues to run with his sister.
Streamsport’s aim is to increase their audience number by 5% every year but they’ve surpassed that goal by hitting the 10% mark.
Galway and Mayo are two major clients of theirs. Streamsport also collaborate with local media outlets including Galway Bay FM and MidWest Radio. The familiarity of voices like Mike Finnerty and Seán Walsh on the stream, along with the big general interest in those county championships, makes for a successful product.
“We’re very lucky that the Galway and Mayo championships have massive interest,” says Rocca. “In a sense, a lot of the hard work is done for us. It’s up to us then to make use of it.
“Clubber are a competitor of ourselves but I think we do a relatively good job of promoting the games that we’re currently streaming, in terms of in-game clips. Some of it is organic audience growth, some of it is audience growth but putting those clips on social media and promoting the games that you’re doing.”
The diaspora form a crucial part of that GAA viewership community as it keeps people engaged with their home club despite the vast distance from where they reside now. They represent about 10% of Streamsport’s audience number.
At home however, streaming can be a divisive word. Many will argue that it discourages fans from attending the games in person, thereby compromising the matchday atmosphere and reducing gate receipts for county boards. It’s the “age old concern” that Doyle hears about.
But both Rocca and Doyle stress that putting the games on an online platform enables the GAA to draw in more fans, and ultimately, grow as a sport.
“If a person is determined to go to a match,” says Rocca, “they’re going to go to it. If it’s absolutely bucketing outside, and just watch it at home, that’s a different argument.
“There’s a good chance that if it wasn’t being streamed, they might not go at all because the weather is too bad. But if they watch it at home, I think you’ve gained a viewer rather than losing one.”
Although streaming GAA games is proving to be viable for both Clubber and Streamsport, Doyle notes that the profit margins “are tight.” In terms of the cost involved in covering a typical game, Clubber could spend anything from a few hundred euro up to €2,000. It all depends on the number of cameras and commentators that are required to provide adequate coverage.
Clubber hopes to expand operations and explore opportunities outside of Ireland. Doyle opted not to divulge on the details but says they’re “working on a few things” that will bring them into the global market. GAA analysis remains a major passion project for Doyle too, and Clubber aim to launch a product that enables teams to study the game more deeply.
“The three key things it offers are: using AI in the background to automatically tag the game for you. Here’s all your kickouts, wides, scores and turnovers. The second thing is, as we build our portfolio of games that we cover, we will have a rounded view of all games so you can go in to analyse your own game and the opposition’s game.
“And the third thing, which most analysis systems have, is a nice easy interface to cut clips for your players, have individual conversations with players on clips. We’re conscious that there’s a marketplace out there where there’s a lot of analysts doing this for a lot of clubs. We want to see ourselves as an addition to them rather than taking their jobs away.”
Streamsport has expansion plans to work towards too. Rocca wants to cover more schools rugby and boxing, and has also worked with the Connacht and Munster provincial rugby bodies. For the latter side, they covered Munster v All Blacks XV for Access Munster in October.
Streamsport setting up for Munster v All Blacks XV in October.
He’s veering into podcasting too, as well as building on the number of Ladies Football games they’ve covered by targeting some of the LGFA league games that aren’t being televised in the new year. Women’s sport is an area that Clubber also wants to branch into, a personal ambition for Doyle who has four daughters.
Now that he has a better understanding of what providing a good viewing experience entails, he’s long past the days of worrying about the company’s future.
Looking at what lies ahead for GAA streaming, Doyle feels the margins are too tight for many other companies to find a place in the market. Rocca believes that the GAA could become more involved in regulating the industry.
“I could see the GAA looking to take a bit more control over streaming.
“County boards would still have autonomy but it would be the GAA’s own official platform, kind of like an expansion of GAA GO. Would that be an issue for us? No, not necessarily. Whichever way we operate, it doesn’t matter to us. We just want to produce a quality product for our viewers. Whether that’s through county boards or through an overarching streaming arm, then that’s no issue.”
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'If fans can't get access to a game, there's hell to pay' - GAA streaming in post-Covid times
IN 2021, NOT long after they began this venture, a GAA streaming site was facing extinction.
The coverage of two games had not gone well due to technical faults. Prospects weren’t looking favourable. For Jimmy Doyle and his crew at Clubber, this was entirely new territory. The ways of TV and broadcasting were not his skillset. Doyle, a Tipperary native, was a tech guy with computer studies and economics qualifications, who had worked in Microsoft for 25 years.
He identified a gap in the market, one that could serve GAA fans in a revolutionary way. And since he always wanted to run his own business, he made his move. He was initially tinkering with technology for GAA analysis and still has plans to go further into that field. But more on that later.
His innovation led to the birth of Clubber in 2020, a GAA streaming site with a few games on their books to break them into the industry. The hard launch followed in 2021.
But that was just the introduction. Now they were taking on bigger matches, and bigger expectations. Bearing the hostility of the unsatisfied sports fan would be the cost if he wanted to persist with this project.
“It’s a brutal market,” he says reflecting back on the lessons he gained from those wobbles in 2021. “If fans can’t get access to a game, there’s hell to pay.”
The streaming of GAA games was a much-needed tonic for fans during the Covid pandemic. Crowds were banished from the grounds due to the risks of spreading the virus, but people could still watch the games through services like Clubber, and their competitor Streamsport.
As restrictions eased, and fans had permission to attend matches again, one would presume that the public appetite for the streaming option would lessen. Or perhaps fade out entirely.
But here we are, some three years on from the last Covid lockdown in Ireland, and these companies are still thriving. If anything, the audience number has swelled.
It lines up with Jimmy Doyle’s vision. He never saw this as something that would survive on a temporary demand. He knew that GAA fans were hungry for more content.
Currently, Clubber has GAA streaming deals with 11 counties, a number that has grown steadily since their first foray into the racket. Last weekend, they hit the 1,000-game mark when they streamed the Offaly U20 hurling final between Kilcormac Killoughey and Shinrone.
For Streamsport owner Raffaele Rocca, he suspected that the viewership figures might “level off” in a post-Covid world, but different factors have allowed the business to soar. Similar to Doyle, technology has always appealed to him although he does have a background in media. A newsreader in his younger days, he holds a Masters in Journalism from UL before later becoming the editor of Sporting Limerick. Streamsport is a derivative of that outlet. His interesting name came from his Italian father who emigrated to Ireland in the 1970s and opened a Fish & Chip shop which Raffaele continues to run with his sister.
Streamsport’s aim is to increase their audience number by 5% every year but they’ve surpassed that goal by hitting the 10% mark.
Galway and Mayo are two major clients of theirs. Streamsport also collaborate with local media outlets including Galway Bay FM and MidWest Radio. The familiarity of voices like Mike Finnerty and Seán Walsh on the stream, along with the big general interest in those county championships, makes for a successful product.
“We’re very lucky that the Galway and Mayo championships have massive interest,” says Rocca. “In a sense, a lot of the hard work is done for us. It’s up to us then to make use of it.
“Clubber are a competitor of ourselves but I think we do a relatively good job of promoting the games that we’re currently streaming, in terms of in-game clips. Some of it is organic audience growth, some of it is audience growth but putting those clips on social media and promoting the games that you’re doing.”
The diaspora form a crucial part of that GAA viewership community as it keeps people engaged with their home club despite the vast distance from where they reside now. They represent about 10% of Streamsport’s audience number.
At home however, streaming can be a divisive word. Many will argue that it discourages fans from attending the games in person, thereby compromising the matchday atmosphere and reducing gate receipts for county boards. It’s the “age old concern” that Doyle hears about.
But both Rocca and Doyle stress that putting the games on an online platform enables the GAA to draw in more fans, and ultimately, grow as a sport.
“If a person is determined to go to a match,” says Rocca, “they’re going to go to it. If it’s absolutely bucketing outside, and just watch it at home, that’s a different argument.
“There’s a good chance that if it wasn’t being streamed, they might not go at all because the weather is too bad. But if they watch it at home, I think you’ve gained a viewer rather than losing one.”
Although streaming GAA games is proving to be viable for both Clubber and Streamsport, Doyle notes that the profit margins “are tight.” In terms of the cost involved in covering a typical game, Clubber could spend anything from a few hundred euro up to €2,000. It all depends on the number of cameras and commentators that are required to provide adequate coverage.
Clubber hopes to expand operations and explore opportunities outside of Ireland. Doyle opted not to divulge on the details but says they’re “working on a few things” that will bring them into the global market. GAA analysis remains a major passion project for Doyle too, and Clubber aim to launch a product that enables teams to study the game more deeply.
“The three key things it offers are: using AI in the background to automatically tag the game for you. Here’s all your kickouts, wides, scores and turnovers. The second thing is, as we build our portfolio of games that we cover, we will have a rounded view of all games so you can go in to analyse your own game and the opposition’s game.
“And the third thing, which most analysis systems have, is a nice easy interface to cut clips for your players, have individual conversations with players on clips. We’re conscious that there’s a marketplace out there where there’s a lot of analysts doing this for a lot of clubs. We want to see ourselves as an addition to them rather than taking their jobs away.”
Streamsport has expansion plans to work towards too. Rocca wants to cover more schools rugby and boxing, and has also worked with the Connacht and Munster provincial rugby bodies. For the latter side, they covered Munster v All Blacks XV for Access Munster in October.
He’s veering into podcasting too, as well as building on the number of Ladies Football games they’ve covered by targeting some of the LGFA league games that aren’t being televised in the new year. Women’s sport is an area that Clubber also wants to branch into, a personal ambition for Doyle who has four daughters.
Now that he has a better understanding of what providing a good viewing experience entails, he’s long past the days of worrying about the company’s future.
Looking at what lies ahead for GAA streaming, Doyle feels the margins are too tight for many other companies to find a place in the market. Rocca believes that the GAA could become more involved in regulating the industry.
“I could see the GAA looking to take a bit more control over streaming.
“County boards would still have autonomy but it would be the GAA’s own official platform, kind of like an expansion of GAA GO. Would that be an issue for us? No, not necessarily. Whichever way we operate, it doesn’t matter to us. We just want to produce a quality product for our viewers. Whether that’s through county boards or through an overarching streaming arm, then that’s no issue.”
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Closer Look clubber GAA Streaming Streamsport