Newstalk: Off The Ball

And rightly so.

I am all very amused my this whole thing to be honest. Maybe there is a market for it I don't know?

I went off OTB years ago plenty of much better content elsewhere for free or better options for better value IMO.

If you look at it objectively the OTB background is not journalistic first and foremost, they are mostly English Degree graduates, (one legal background as far as I know) who fell into sport.

How many of the presenters on the show do people honestly think they deliver quality?

How many people think this is worth paying for?

How many are likeable characters that people enjoy listening to and would pay for the privilege?

I will watch with interest from afar to see if this works and maybe it is just me. But I think there could be a hasty changing of strategy, if this tanks.

However, perhaps I am the one completely out of touch?

Maybe there are 20 somethings who do not know any different who would pay this subscription? I assume they only need a certain percentage to return a profit?

Also, in order to get more subs I assume they will have to be more sensationalist 'hard hitting' to get clicks and so on? More 'Bantz' aimed at college students?

Was going to turn it on this evening on the phone to listen in and after a minute I just turned it off.my heart wasn’t in it to listen to their inane crap banter especially from banner boy McCarthy.it’s amazing how one decision to change the way u listen to a show can alter ur feelings towards it.

According to the article 10% is industry standard but golf weekly got 25% when it went behind the paywall, Gilroy said if they get anywhere between these 2 it will be worthwhile.

Here’s another reason not to touch this sub, Clíona Foley, that horrendous cackling laugh at her own gags, her relentless interruptions and when she’s not at that she’s on some mundane monologue about some **** nobody cares about. She also seems to be on the paper review every second week. I stopped listening because of her. A geebag if ever there was one, painful.

Golf Weekly got 25%? That's insane especially with No Laying Up out there for free. Granted, I eventually signed up for it when travelling.

I presume golf is niche, so golf weekly might just be a few hundred people. But I think football is the audience you need to target/ be great at to attract a big audience.

I've never met a poor golf fan. 25% isn't surprising. I wouldn't be expecting the same conversion rate from fans of other sports.

I enjoy their rugby content and occasionally GAA and soccer and I would be willing to pay something but the pricing is outrageous for my usage which is like 2 or 3 shows/podcasts in a week.

To go from free to charging something in line with a disney+ subscription price is a bit of a nuclear move that'll lose most of the audience they worked so hard to build over the years.

It feels like they don't understand their audience at all if they think anyone is listening to 60 podcasts on about 12 different sports each week.

Most might able to afford 9.99 but the problem is it could be on top of already paying out subs for Now TV, Spotify, Netflix etc.

Having listened to it on and off over many years, OTB doesn't appear to be in a particularly strong position at the moment to make this fairly bold move.

They could really do with streamlining their presenters a bit, and putting the strongest people front and centre. The morning show isn't nearly as good since Eoin Sheahan left. And now they're trying to make up for it by involving the producer in proceedings, who's bloody awful. Hannon seems like an alright lad, but he's a sports news reader, not a presenter. They should have replaced Sheahan with one of the older heads. When Hannon and Boohig were presenting together recently, Daniel Harris looked preplexed by the stupid questions they were coming out with.

Agree with whoever made the observation about this being a win for Second Captains subscription numbers. Generally the free Monday pod is enough for me. I don't think I could tolerate any more Murph than one pod a week.

You're miles off the mark. Joe Molloy put out a state of the nation video slamming the FAI over the Pauw allegations which were brought up by The Athletic again just before the world cup.

Now maybe when the original report was released they swatted it aside. But certainly when the Athletic piece came out, Joe was climbing aboard the OTB high horse.

Yawn, here we go again.

Anyone interrupts the bitchfest and it's 'Why do you feel the blah blah blah'?

Why don't you ever ask why does everyone feel the need to find a negative angle on what is clearly a very successful operation?

All you guys who ask me this time and again come across as such snowflakes when you react to your posts being challenged by someone who is actually referring to what was factual on the show. If you feel I'm defending them unnecessarily, challenge me in referring to show content, not my audacity for having an opinion that is different to yours.

I assume you're both effectively talking about two different periods. Gusser09 is referring to when the report itself came out. OTB and nearly all Irish media outlets brushed it aside very quickly. Brock Turnpike is referring to the Athletic article which came out just before the WC which was Joe's slamming of the FAI.

Both of you are correct. The report was swept under the carpet initially (something I disagreed with) and then challenged recently. It will be interesting to see how it is handled moving forward.

What are the listenership numbers for OTB over the years anyone know? Has it increased/decreased? This thread is near dead, the older one from a years back was very active. Wondering if there is any correlation.