Gethelred
Moderator
- May 1, 2016
- 30,408
- 59,114
- AFL Club
- Carlton
- Moderator
- #2,026
This shows two things.View attachment 2035799
From the afl article on app summarising fan survey results.
I hate footy fans.
Footy fans ostensibly prefer a non-playing commentator - Brayshaw and Hudson - to an ex player. I can almost guarantee to you that, were McGuire still commentating, he'd go close to the top of that list too as he's a damn good caller provided not calling Collingwood. It also shows that the majority of ex players have nothing of worth to say, and people can tell; it'll take some time, but broadcasters are gonna catch on here and boot their expensive ex-players for someone with a decent voice and opinions at some point.
The other thing (and this is the cloud to go alongside the silver lining above) is that the comms and coverage being the story - BT in the rooms after a game, the commentators being wacky and opinionated, the blokey radio and pregame coverage - as a media/marketing strategy has worked, to an extent. Trust is a product of familiarity plus time; people build parasocial relationships with the personalities they see/hear on the other side of a screen or hear on a radio. BT being as popular as he is is only due to his fronting the coverage on Ch.7; they opted a few years back to make him the personality around which their coverage was built, and it's paid dividends.
... all of which is to say that he's going no-where. Will probably have to wear out his welcome for a long, long time (aka Bruce and Dennis) before he's done.
I'm looking forward to someone trying to run an online radio call of each game that is more popular than the mainstream call, an out of house model. There were a few for cricket - Whiteline Wireless, Guerilla Cricket - but nothing's popped up AFL wise just yet. Or alternatively, a broadcaster that simply broadcasts the crowd noise at a ground with a decent quality mic; it'd be thoroughly preferable to the current bullshit.