The Global Poker League (GPL) is in its relative infancy, with five weeks completed in a protracted first season. With just over one month of running time within the books, PokerNews talked with Mediarex Sports & Entertainment CEO Alexandre Dreyfus, whose company owns the GPL, The Hendon Mob, and the worldwide Poker Index (GPI).
In Part 2, Dreyfus talked more about improvements to the league, goals, and more.
Defining a Goal
After talking so much about improvements which may be made to the GPL partly 1, Dreyfus explained to us that there is usually a misconception of what the GPL's goal is.
"Sometimes I FEEL there's a big misunderstanding in what our goal is," shared Dreyfus. "Our first goal in year one is to focus on the poker community and poker fans. Our vision is that during the arena at the moment there's 100 million poker fans outside of China. Individuals who claim to be keen on poker include people who sometimes play on Zynga, sometimes they play on PokerStars, or simply play with friends and will not know anything about online poker and even the sector Poker Tour or the arena Series of Poker. The issue this creates is that poker fans are very fragmented. What this implies is that after friends play at home, for example, there is not any storyline or narrative where you'll be able to return and say, 'Hey, remember the match last night? What a hand! What a bluff!' Our vision is that we wish to aggregate the prevailing community so as to create a vital audience throughout the year. So every day, every week, there's a GPL story to be told."
This isn't to mention that Dreyfus expects the GPL to capture all the audience, as he could be happy if the league attracts only a small percentage of that.
"When I say I WOULD LIKE to aggregate, it doesn't suggest we wish to have a 100 million audience, as we'd feel free with a one, two, five, seven percent of that," explained Dreyfus. "We just need to tap that audience of educated poker players that does not have that content that's not available today until now."
From speaking to Dreyfus, it becomes clear that the longterm goal of the GPL is to succeed in a much wider audience than simply those already attached to poker. If that happens, it is a great thing for the sport and one we will be able to all benefit from.
"The next step is to succeed in a bigger audience and to teach new potential fans, but we do not wish to do this today, except in China and perhaps in every other territories where there aren't any real poker fans yet since the game hasn't been exposed the similar way it's been elsewhere," shared Dreyfus.
As for the GPL's current reach, where it's at is a large question for many.
"While we can't disclose exact numbers, on a weekly basis we're reaching a six-figure audience that is something that did not exist weeks ago," commented Dreyfus. "DO NOT FORGET to boot that we've got no marketing power. We invest zero in advertising to drive traffic to our audience and we strive to only grow organically. Dependent on the day on average individuals are watching between 31 to 41 minutes in the case of people watching our content, that's great."
Now, while those statistics do sound great, it stuck out to us that Dreyfus said the league isn't spending any money on marketing or advertising, as one would think those two things would want some type of spend to be able to advance the league's growth.
"It isn't that GPL doesn't have resources to pay for things within the short-term, however the success of the GPL may be its ability to last long," said Dreyfus. "Meaning that this can be a marathon. It is not a game where the winner spent probably the most at this time. GPL has to exist for the following three to 5 years. To reach that we have to work in an atmosphere that needs to be a low-cost environment.
"If you do everything like ESPN, which takes a lot more money to supply the content, then we can just never survive for the reason that business model shouldn't be capable of catch to your costs. So what we do has to grow organically, meaning you can not buy legitimacy. You cannot buy love. So GPL has to to start with exist, secondly deliver the product we said we're going to deliver, that is happening, after which to last very long."
Money Talks
In July 2015, Mediarex Sports & Entertainment announced that may be raised $4.9 million in investments, but starting an organization doesn't come cheap. Dreyfus shared that the initial $4.9 million investment may not be enough to hide the entire cost of the league.
"We will raise more capital, you can find a press release later this year about that," commented Dreyfus. "Again though, spending money is so easy. Anyone can spend money. The question is to spend it smartly and to take action it's a must to have a longterm vision. Our longterm vision is building a league that may be relevant with the proper players playing the precise product and the precise format, filming that, and distributing that on different platforms, primarily digital platforms."
"Guess what? GPL costs a lot more than $5 million — not per year, but I'M talking about as an entire project. Why it has a possibility to succeed is I'M REALLY NOT coming from the background of a poker player unlike the Epic Poker League, Poker Superstars Invitational, Premier League, and Dream Team Poker. Meaning that my background and talent to lift capital and convince media is a key element to the success of the league."
Dreyfus further elaborated at the existing two mainstream media deals stating, "IN THE EVENT YOU take into consideration it, the 2 countries we managed to make media deals are the USA, where online poker is illegal, and China where online poker and gambling is against the law. Meaning a few of the discussion I'VE aren't with gambling groups, but with entertainment and live event companies. Once I talk live-event companies, IT'S NOT THAT I AM talking about poker, but live events reminiscent of music and entertainment. I'M chatting with some media groups who're on the lookout for new content. What we're doing is packaging a poker story that may appeal first to poker fans and secondly at some point to a bigger group of future poker fans."
So why wouldn't spending money on marketing now help achieve the goals the GPL desires to achieve?
"We aren't ready for that," Dreyfus commented. "First we have to ensure that the product we put out is worth spending marketing dollars. Which again, right now, we're just weeks old, so wait just a little. What people want to understand is our priority in 2016 isn't to succeed in the mainstream. First is to look legit to the poker community and to the prevailing poker fans. After we have that legitimacy and grassroots foundation, then we will really expand out of it. But it surely could be naive and doubtless stupid to modify in year one and spend millions to advertise something that hasn't yet managed to prove to be legit for all the world."
Dreyfus denied to touch upon how much of the $4.9 million investment was spent thus far, stating that the GPL is an individual company. However, he did comment that money was spent to bring USA Today on board for GPL coverage elaborating that, "We use marketing dollars to verify media coverage that isn't used to hide poker."
Dreyfus added the the Chinese media deal didn't require any marketing spend, stating, "For Sina Sports we don't pay anything." He then added that, "I DO NOT need to bring people to poker, I WOULD LIKE to bring poker to people. What I MUST do is make sure that we're placing GPL in an atmosphere where it may be seen."
What's Coming for the GPL?
Live poker will replace that of the present online format later within the year. There's a lot of buzz among poker players, as they're widely anticipating new formats with players standing up within the Cube.
However, Dreyfus hopes to control the expectancy of GPL fans sharing that The Cube will likely not make its debut until the finals in London, explaining that the building of the poker league is a longterm process.
"I do believe there's a big expectation, that is part as a result of buzz we strive to make around what we do," said Dreyfus. "WE HAVE to stay to the truth of doing a business that may be losing a ton of cash. We need to manage adore it is a marathon and the goal isn't to burn out in year one by trying everything this year. It is a long journey. We need to wait and see because it can't all work in a single year. Now we have lots of ideas, but must be careful to grow step by step.
"We are going to have live events through the World Series of Poker in our live studio in Las Vegas, however the Cube won't debut until the overall. Creating an event like that costs seven figures, and we won't do this five times a year because it wouldn't be viable. So we're going to have The Cube on the final in London in a sports arena. We're also going to launch something called the GPL Pro Plus Amateur where you as a poker fan will even have a chance to have an opportunity to take part within the Cube in London as well."
While explaining much of creating a league is completed by planning together with trial and error, Dreyfus also shared with us that he do not need imaged two years ago that the GPL would even happen in a web-based poker format.
"We try many stuff and we fail at some as well," admitted Dreyfus. "If two years ago you told me, 'Alex, I heard you're going to do a web-based event for GPL,' I'D have laughed to you. I MIGHT have said, 'No way is it going to be online.' Then I NOTICED that eSports and online poker will also be watched if it's made correctly and that i think now we have managed to take action. So whatever we're going to do live is definitely going to enhance the experience especially within the playoffs and the final."
Dreyfus believes in many years things may be running very smoothly and can grow into a fair greater experience for GPL fans.
"I want people to watch out of their expectations because now we have a large number of work to be done within the next two to 3 years to make this rightfully and that's going to take time," shared Dreyfus. "GPL success is not only about poker. It's concerning the ability to construct the proper relationships with digital poker around the world as a way to make certain that the content, the players, and the teams are to be seen. That's the key thing and that's why GPL has an opportunity. GPL was built by entrepreneurial poker players to construct the sport thinking out of the box."
To read Part 1 of this interview, click here.
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