Manchester City have dominated football in the Premier League last term and have been leading innovators in the digital media department but is their new fly on the wall series a step too far?
While the desire for unique, attractive and tailor made content is the goal of any respectable digital sports brand, what may be an issue is overdoing content and potentially spoiling the magic show .
The trailer for Manchester City's new 'docu-series' following the club's success on and off the pitch last season has sparked huge interest since it was released three-days-ago, but while fans eagerly await the first instalment available on Amazon Prime on August 17th, the path of unrest it may have left in its wake may cancel out the rewards.
The All or Nothing series, sees the Greater Manchester club now alongside the Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, Michigan Wolverines and the Los Angeles Rams to become the first football (soccer) club to be featured, but at what price - and who is to pay?
Mental Anguish
Elite level sports stars are often under so much stress that viewing them as human can be a blessing and a curse, seeing the world's best football players signing autographs may look great - but interrupting personal time can cause a burden on family life, away from the pitch.
The thought of cameras monitoring every move, intensifies feelings and could potentially add to a hostile environment in moments of extreme emotion, which raises the question; is it worth capturing every moment and risking the anger of players and staff who just want to concentrate on their job?
This theory is supported by the Yerkes-Dodson Law, coined by Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson in 1908, who formulated the belief that while the presence of a larger audience can increase performance, an audience too large can hinder athletic capability, as anxiety and worry overtake ability.
For example, a player may be comfortable performing to a high standard on a match-day in front of thousands of fans or oppositional spectators, however a close up of a camera may have them nervous for an unknown psychological reason, maybe a fear of public speaking or misrepresentation, and this could be a worry for their mentality which carries into their performance, as in the YDL theory, the cameras are replacing the audience.
However, it seemed to have little, to no impact on the football played as Pep Guardiola's men cruised to the club's third Premier League - but how did the nonstop filming affect players mentally?
With more and more players speaking up about mental health and how it is an issue not raised enough in the current game - would a steady stream of staff in a private environment such as the one that exists in football, help or hinder the mental stability of these athletes?
Inside conflict
This interruption could have had a butterfly effect and reduced projections of subscribers and views, which in turn could impact marketing agreements and time sensitive content.
One important piece of information to note is how this project was created from an outside production company, away fromThe Citizens own production staff, so with this battle for attention, how was content affected during the documentary production?
With cameras needed for interviews and the sheer amount of exposure that will have been captured, media-time from other departments will, or may have been, limited, causing a disruption to a content plan that will likely have been suited around specific players, including interviews and colour features.
This interruption could have had a butterfly effect and reduced projections of subscribers and views, which in turn could impact marketing agreements and time sensitive content.
This demand for time will have caused conflict between two separate entities vying for attention required for content, stretching the club's media staff and pushing limits.
Creative control
As with their previous instalments of the franchise, Amazon will have provided club representatives the opportunity to cut things from the final production that they feel misrepresent, or maybe are inappropriate to be shown.
This relationship would likely help provide a much needed sense of reassurance regarding access with contact and permission likely provided for each scene in the show, rather than a complete unrestricted access.
What will be interesting however, is whether Amazon's vision matched what the club had in mind, regarding interviews and player access and whether, in fitting with the topic above, any players or staff declined to take part in pieces to camera.
Profit for Exposure
While Amazon Prime are set to be one of the next players in the market for Premier League football rights, alongside BT Sport and SKY, their first step in the market will get many on their side.
First impressions count and having the ability to show your audience a heavily documented in depth story about one of the greatest achievements in English Football is a hell of a way to start.
However, what do Man City receive, apart from a pat on the back?
The Michigan Wolverines were paid $2.5m for allowing Amazon's camera access to their facilities, which considering the American Football Team represent the university, it is a large sum of money, which will certainly be increased for the coverage of a Premier League club.
The figure that Man City charged Amazon is reportedly around the £10m mark, which should more than cover the costs of players' weekly wages, for one week, but what the partnership between Amazon and the current Premier League Champions represents - could be worth so much more.
Speaking of the agreement which was finalised in late 2017, Chief Executive Ferran Soriano said: "This is an extremely exciting time for Manchester City and through Amazon's world-class service, we will be able to share it with football fans all over the world.
Following his PR comments, when asked about the possibility of Amazon entering the bidding war for football rights, he said: "Absolutely, I think they will enter the mix.
"We are going to see an increasing engagement from those organisations and it is going to be increasingly important to digitally engage with fans."
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