I recently discovered Bridge Overlord, the twitch streamer. It was amazingly entertaining to watch, although it’s clearly not going to attract newcomers to the game. More likely, bridge streaming could be a stepping stone for beginner and intermediate players to enjoy the game more. Almost all the popular online esports have a vibrant ecosystem of streamers – why not bridge?
Why Would Anyone Watch Someone Else For Hours?
To be clear, by esports, we generally mean video games such as DOTA, League of Legends, and Hearthstone. Most people instantly wonder, “why would anyone watch someone ELSE play video games?” Well, 10 years ago most venture capitalists also wondered the same thing and chose NOT to invest in Twitch.tv. Founders Justin Kan and Michael Siebel eventually sold it for $970 million to Amazon.
Twitch.tv was actually a pivot from justin.tv, an even more wacky idea that eventually raised $7 million from investors such as Y Combinator, Bessemer, and Thrive. It was a wild idea to just watch one person’s life, Justin, all day every day in a Truman Show manner. Somewhere along the way, they figured out there is an audience of people who want to watch gamers. The growth was incredible, and the rest is history.
How Do We Make Bridge Interesting To Watch?
For those who watch Vugraphs, you probably don’t need too much convincing. But Vugraphs require a lot of resources – the vugraph operator, BBO, the commentators, and of course 8 world class players worth watching?
Is there a market for watching someone do their ACBL Speedballs or even their robot tournaments? BridgeOverlord201 is reasonably entertaining. It’s comforting to know even expert players get into bidding disasters here and there. You be the judge!