Watchalongs - The new phenomenon. Why??

neverdie

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But who would actually watch somebody watching a game of football live when they can be watching the game themselves?
Production companies seem to be doing everything possible to make football the least important point of a football match. These aren't temporary measures. They're testing the waters during lockdown and much of the really bad alterations they've made will likely remain. I don't think I'll bother with it any more if they retain the drinks break, this crowd reaction, and VAR in its current form. It's not what it was and it wasn't broke. Such a blatant attempt to monetise every aspect of an already tried and tested platform.
 

miked99

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I recorded the second half of the Arsenal game last night and found I'd somehow recorded a 'watchalong' instead of the normal transmission. I didn't know it was even a thing. I'd never even heard of one of the guests, no idea if he was a celebrity of some sort or just some random. The two ex-pros were personable enough, but what's the point? They kept doing stupid polls like "vote for which Leicester crowd chant" you'd like to hear next and other inane stuff that filled up large parts of the screen . It's like a way of watching football for people who don't actually care about the watching football element of it.
 

Canadianred17

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The AFTV watchalong is comedy gold. Tuned in yesterday when Vardy scored. I nearly fell on the floor from laughing too much.
 

Rish Sawhney

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The Soccer Saturday thing makes sense due to the 3pm blackout and it's ideal for lower leagues. I can also understand the gaming thing. My main question was about watching a watchalong of a LIVE game. Who would have been watching the Arsenal watchalong for example, when the game was on SkySports anyway. And there's still watchalongs when games are shown on BBC/Amazon Prime for free. That's what I don't understand.
Maybe as something to listen to or watch the same time as you’re watching the game? Sometimes I’ll watch True Geordie’s watchalong as it’s better than listening to the commentary. Or watching AFTV yesterday for the “lols” while also watching the game.

But yeah I agree watching just the watchalong seems dumb.
 

Snow

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YouTube is full of the reaction videos (I'll never understand those), I'm assuming that they're trying to get in on the action.
If you've got your surprised face in the thumbnail of a video your video gets a bigger bump because of the Youtube sorting algorithm. Doesn't matter what the content of the video is, open mouthed surprise sells so people do whatever it takes to get views. Kids love reaction videos so that's why people do it.

There's an Icelandic TikTok-er who's got quite a big following. He said all he does is a bunch of cringy, unfunny crap because that's what's popular but he himself hates it and is slowly hating himself for doing it but it is what it is.
 

Pep's Suit

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AFTV's was trending No.4 on UK YouTube yesterday. That's quite massive.
 

Dve

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United Stand (aka M. Goldbridge) has half a million views on his last watch along. I don´t how many who actually watched it live, but anyhow, I suppose most people don´t actually watch it, maybe rather listen to it as an alternative to pundits on telly.
 

Maagge

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Same as reaction videos on YouTube. It let's people empathise with other people. I think that's it at the fundamental level.
 

roseguy64

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I used to consider this kind of thing as 'kids these days' thing too, but when I actually started to watch reaction videos, I think I understand why. It's basically seeking validation on our own opinion, finding people who have the same passionate reaction to what you experience yourself and kinda spiritually bond over that. Even better when you have reactors who are genuine, entertaining, and/or insightful about the things they're reacting to.

It's actually something I really enjoy as an Old Person, because I have much less time and like-minded people to physically watch something together these days (especially with current situation...). Don't be too overly suspicious of this New Era stuff, you guys, just give it a shot and you may actually have some fun.
This is kinda why I watch reaction channels. To see different perspectives of the media/art. Also, to see the reactions to the twists and if anyone guesses it, etc.

Gaming channels are mainly for games I have no intention of playing but am interested in or to see if I'll like a particular game.
 

ReddBalls

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That’s been a thing for years, I remember doing it about 10yrs ago.
Try 30-40. People has always been watching other people play. In the 80's people used to watch over the shoulder of people playing video games in the arcades. feck I'm old.
 

In Rainbows

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I don't see what's hard to get. It's the same reason why we post in game threads, albeit there is less discussion and it's in video format. People start seeing these personalities as entertainment or would like to relive what they felt in the past.
 

Chipper

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Human interaction/shared experience I would have thought. Like watching with a mate who isn't really your mate when there's none of your mates there.

What I absolutely wouldn't understand would be a group of people sitting down together to watch one of these. You'd already have it's biggest selling point sorted.

No interest in these for me although I have watched some Twitch gaming streams at times. On top of the elements already mentioned you can also pick up hints and tips of how to play the game better yourself.