Co-Streaming is the Future of Watching Sports and Events
Note: Republishing this post I shared on the Medium paid subscription a few years ago. Since Medium’s paywall prevents some readers (and pays me a grand total of about $0.17) I’m moving posts over to my personal blog. This was originally written in June 2019.
Every time I watch an NBA game, I scroll Twitter and giggle constantly, because people on the internet are hilarious. (Mean, but hilarious.)
Another NBA observation: commentators are from a previous era of media. They are G-rated, family-friendly, and vanilla.
The NBA, and really all sports and events (Grammys, Oscars, etc) are yet to be internet-ified.
My prediction: We will see Sports and Events come online through amateur voice-overs that give each re-broadcast unique personality.
Twitch calls this Co-Streaming.
Co-streaming will expand the audience for the base programming. As streamers add their personalities to a broadcast, it will appeal strongly to new niche audiences. Add up enough niches… and you have a massive audience.
As we all know from Mystery Science Theater 3000, hilarious commentary will make even unwatchable movies delightful. Imagine what it can do for something we’re already excited to watch!
Anyone Remember Mystery Science Theater 3000?
Doesn’t that look similar to what is happening on Twitch as streamers are play games and commentate?
(Side note: How weird is the word “Commentate”?! Super weird. Anyway…)
PewDiePie in the corner pocket, video in video!
These streamers all have unique personalities, attracting different niche audiences. They are incredibly knowledgeable, talented, hilarious, or outright trolls.
Inevitability Reason #1: All Content Gets Online
Eventually… everything gets online. If there’s not an axiom about the inevitable progress of piracy, there should be. As cable channels lose customers to streaming companies, there are only a few properties holding people to cable: Sports and Live Events (Oscars, Grammys, etc).
Already people are re-streaming these online. If you’re under 30 or just handy with the internet, you know where to find these for free. (Sometimes… on Twitch! Expressed preferences!)
Inevitability Reason #2: Niche wins on the Internet
There are basically no examples of things getting LESS personalized as they move online.
We have unique Twitter feeds, Pinterest homepages, Youtube channels, Netflix recommendations, Adwords, Search Results, etc etc etc.
As the last media from the Channel-dominated world of cable moves online, it will become increasingly niche, increasingly personalized.
Here’s how I think it’ll play out:
Version 1: Amateur Commentary
First, this will be voice-over commentary. Initially, added on top of the current ‘stock’ commentators. Current Commentators may be additive for a while because they are on-site, and still getting special information.
Eventually, I imagine broadcasters will provide a feed of inside information for re-streaming commentators.
Imagine:
Michael Jordan giving you in-depth, expert analysis of a game and each player on the floor. It’ll happen in real-time during the game.
Snoop Dogg getting really high and commentating the next UFC fight.
Chrissy Teigen live-watching the Met Gala from her couch.
An anonymous, 13 year old kid who knows EVERY baseball fact imaginable dropping knowledge for the whole world.
Deadpan commentary from Nathan Fielder of… anything, really.
_______[Your ideas here…]_______
There is so much value to unlock by allowing these events to be co-streamed with a new layer of perspective and personality on top. The possibilities are tantalizing… and that’s just with audio…
Version 2: Amateur Broadcasting
The next step-up is providing amateurs all of the raw materials for broadcasting. Streamers would have access to dozens of camera angles, audio feeds, and running news updates.
Each streamer (or Stream Team…?) would compose their own broadcast. These would become increasingly unique blends of original content, creator insight, and remixing of the raw materials to create incredible an incredible new entertainment medium out of something that today feels ‘stock’.
Imagine:
Playing along with an Offensive Coordinator during a game. See what they see. Hear what they hear. See if you can predict the plays.
Jared Leto doing some crazy artistic take on an award ceremony
College Basketball coaches keeping cameras and audio on one player for the entire game to teach young players what they’re thinking and doing every second.
The All-Gary-Busey-All-The-Time channel
A channel customized to the specific players on your fantasy team
Watching political debates with a comedian drawing right on the screen as you watch
Kanye’s gonna let you finish, but he can make the best remixes of anything.
Slow-motion at ALL the wrong times
_______[Your ideas here…]_______
It’s Already Started
When I started writing this, I was just imagining how the future might look, the kind of entertainment I’d want. Turns out, the world is ahead of me here, and we’re already seeing early signs of this happening.
The NBA is working through Twitch to support Co-Streaming of the NBA G-League.
Game of Jones — Leslie Jones and Seth Meyers watching Game of Thrones together and talking about it. (Heavily edited, but still…)
“Ninja’s co-streaming will allow him to add original live commentary to broadcasts as it’s streamed to his own community, resulting in ‘the ultimate fan-as-commentator experience’,”
This is a behavior emerging on Twitch already. Twitch, owned by Amazon, certainly has the bankroll to bid on some broadcasting rights to help this cross the chasm.
One of my favorite questions to ask people is “What is something you think will be 10x-100x more popular in 10 years?” — This is my answer. I think watching co-streams will be mainstream behavior in 10 years.
Open Questions:
I’m not informed enough about how broadcasting rights work here. Not sure of how this will loosen up, but I’m confident it will eventually.
Who is best positioned to become stars of co-streaming? Streamers and Youtubers are probably the most skill-aligned. Comedians and (some) podcasters will see amazing opportunities here.
What are the companies you bet on to ride this trend? My guesses are Twitch and Youtube. With the technology, partnerships, and audiences already aggregated, I’m not sure there’s a startup to build here.
Where will we watch? Well, Amazon owns Twitch, and Twitch owns streamers. Amazon is already on all of our TVs through Prime video, so they have distribution and the platform for creation.
Please add to my list of brainstorms about who will use this and how!
Just thinking out loud here — Would love to hear your reactions or talk through these ideas.
Update: My friend, Avthar Sewrathan (@avthars) gave me a tip that "watch along" sports streams are already happening in the world of soccer (aka football).
Youtubers like AFTV and United Stand stream and commentate matches while allowing fans to comment live on Youtube.
Here's one example from The United Stand that has garnered almost 1.3 million views (at the time of writing).