Steve Dainton: "We want our athletes to earn what they deserve, but..."

[pong99]

I don't understand.

so with TV commercials, it is 57 mins
without it is 30 mins?

so what happens when there is tv commercials, does the players stop playing and wait for the sign that the video feed is back

There are known stops in play for side change, in between sets, etc. In big TV matches, like the finals, the breaks are extra long to allow for more commercials. So the players actually get more rest time. If you want millions in TV $$, you must bow down to the TV gods of ad sales.

If you have ever been to a NFL/college football game, you will see during breaks in play a TV guy with a headset steps onto the field. The head official takes his orders from this guy. The game continues when the TV guy gets the signal from the TV director that the commercials are done. The bigger the game, the longer the commercial breaks are.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

There are known stops in play for side change, in between sets, etc. In big TV matches, like the finals, the breaks are extra long to allow for more commercials. So the players actually get more rest time. If you want millions in TV $$, you must bow down to the TV gods of ad sales.

If you have ever been to a NFL/college football game, you will see during breaks in play a TV guy with a headset steps onto the field. The head official takes his orders from this guy. The game continues when the TV guy gets the signal from the TV director that the commercials are done. The bigger the game, the longer the commercial breaks are.

I understand- thank you!

India’s UTT has the same and it can be after any replay.
So each service point, the umpire will get the signal if the player need to wait or can serve.

I did joke asking what if the rally/replay is a minute long…

 

[igorponger]

TTR cameras placement, technical guidance.

https://clck.ru/3PG7dX

Beijing Rigour Technology Co., Ltd.

Yes, keeping up fair play is costly like hell, yet fair play is priceless, anyway.
TTR is sure a good device to keep up fair play properly , and the "safety label" should be a reasonable remedy against those insolent players utterly obsessed with boosting of rubbers. .

Yes, we all glad to give thumb-up for the salubrious innovations by Mr. Steeve Daiton. Go on, man, dont stop.
----------------------.. ----
FAIR PLAY FIRST

 

[OvrChkn]

WTT should hire your services

imo there is way too much content and its the same thing.
Like champions, it is the same players playing each other.

I agree, you need something fresh, something different.
But where will the money come from to hire more staff to make these "stories"?

The way WTT works is, hire minimal amount of staff, and get them to do 3 to 4 times the work (as WTT has grown in events over the years, but didn't really increase its staff count) and then you expect quality results for staff that are worn off.
Players worn off, staff worn off. I see a pattern

They don't have the money to hire me

I see for tennis majors, they interview the players right before they come out. That may be too extreme of a case to do it right before the match.

Money is the biggest issue and I'm not sure what their profit margins are year over year. I can assume that since it is a sports body that the execs will make an insane amount of money vs everyone else.

 

[laowa]

Fun sport to play
Cursed sport to go pro in

 

[Lando]

This is a tough one.
TT is in a weird placebecause it's one of those sports that only people who play watch it here in the US, and still I know several club members that don't follow rankings, matches etc.
You have to get more people playing to grow the fan base here in the US.

 

[Yuomay]

I think there's somthing to win in the recap videos. Now it's just some points with commentary cut halfway a sentence.

They could make a broadcast with the biggest tournaments like they do for premier league Match Of The Day. Match analysis, interviews, statistics, pronostics etc.

 

[canonFH]

Fan engagement can simply be increased by showing the players' personality more. In my opinion, trash talk should be allowed. None of this polite diplomatic nonsense in every interview. Its already difficult to connect with the players because of the language barrier. On top of that, if every interview is just "he also played great, I was just lucky", it gets boring.

People connect with people. A big chunk of audience which maybe doesn't understand or can't appreciate the technicalities of the game is cast aside because all we see is the match. There is no story, no tension, no buildup.
This is part of why moments like Zhang Jike tearing his shirt, or Ma long climbing up the table are so iconic. Because you see the raw emotion and you connect with it. Then, you appreciate it so much more when you later understand the back story.

If two players don't like each other, it should be acceptable for the players to be open about it. If two players are best friends, wtt should run stories about it before the match. This is also why Adam is such a great commentator. He always finds these little factoids and tidbits of information which connect you more with the game.

But instead of him doing all the heavy lifting, the broadcast should do a pre-match segment. Of course some people may find it boring, but a little 2-3 min showreel wouldn't cause any issues. It could also be used to introduce new players and a bit of their story.

But it seems to me that WTT has boxed table tennis in as a derivative sport of tennis so it is difficult for them to implement things which are not there in tennis.

 

[I Love Anders Lind]

Since I started following table tennis closely, the main problem I have is that tournaments are very underwhelming for a lot of players and these players' fans.

Players will fly halfway around the planet, lose 3-0 in 28 minutes and then go home (maybe for some events, they play doubles, but I dont have the time to watch all singles and doubles play).

You dont get to spend a lot of time with some players, and if for whatever reason they dont perform perfectly from the start then it's over for them. I think that aside from the UFC comparison, in other sports like tennis, F1 or golf, you spend more time watching each player, and they have more chances to prove themselves.

In F1, you see racers for at least 3 days, with practice, qualifying, and race. In tennis, they even make the best players skip the first round so that it's more fair to lesser ranked players. You can hope for your favorite lesser ranked player to play for at least 1 hour, and maybe make it to next round. Golf lasts a long time too, i dont know how long but more than 30 minutes for the weaker players for sure.

This way, fans can build more relationship with players, see them more often.

Now I'm not saying table tennis matches should be 1 hour long minimum, and I also am not expert in tournaments formats (group stage and such). But maybe it would be nice to have less tournaments overall, but have them last longer, or like F1, have them play more regularly but have a summer and winter break. (This would also be good for sponsorship of lesser ranked players, because what company want to sponsor a player that you only see 30 minutes every month/2months?)

some other sports like rugby/esports have a "plate" or second tier tournament where losers can be revived or play other knocked out players. maybe tt can draw inspiration from that

 

[pongguy69]

i think one thing that wtt can definitely use is showing the actual commentators between matches, and let them run analysis and replays. they need to be the ones that bring deeper discussion of the sport to the people watching. things like tactics, types of serves, headfakes, so many things that can go unseen by the casual fan. also, seeing people react and get excited really does something to keep the viewer engaged. there's a reason why this is used in like all other sports.

also, prompt the viewers to like/sub (i know it's cringe but like it really does help the youtube algorithm).

 

[zeio]

75% of 490K spectators were female, and 15% were male.

2025 WTT Series Marks Breakout Year As Table Tennis’ Global Footprint Surges
https://www.worldtabletennis.com/description?artId=5841

WTTが2025年を総括、「躍進の年、卓球の世界的プレゼンスが急上昇」と発表
https://world-tt.com/blog/news/archives/328619