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BGonline.org Forums
Regarding tournament rules: I have a dream!--
Posted By: Bill Riles In Response To: Regarding tournament rules: I have a dream!-- (Art Grater)
Date: Thursday, 18 August 2016, at 2:08 p.m.
Art, as the others have mentioned, it varies greatly.
Perhaps the three largest contributing factors are scheduling/promotion, quality of streaming, and the players being streamed.
Scheduling/promotion, of course, is difficult because it is dependent on the flow, format, attendance (top players), and pairings on site at a tournament -- a very dynamic situation.
Quality of streaming is greatly enhanced by the available bandwidth. Those tournaments using a hardwired connection generally derive considerably greater streaming quality than those depending on a hotel's wi-fi system. But a hard-wired connection typically costs about $100 a day.
Again, pairings mean everything. Many players around the world want to see Akiko, Mochy, Michi, Victor, Neil, Petko, Ray, Falafel, MCG, Granstedt, and the like. Even better if those players are playing each other. But all of that is dependent on the draw and the tournament progression. Art vs. Bill would probably be a real stinker ... lololol.
Live commentary can add a lot to the experience but adds another level of complexity to the production. And, of course, those that can provide commentary are often playing in the tournament and may not be available to do so.
The recent Monte Carlo final, with Falafel and Sander Lyllhof commenting, was very good. I think Carter and Akiko also stepped in a bit. Phil and Eric McAlpine assisted the commentators by providing live XG analysis of difficult positions for the commentators to reference.
I think with the Granstedt/Russell final matches in Monte Carlo we reached a simultaneous maximum of 478 viewers. Total live views of the final was almost 4,500 -- with people going on and off, others coming in, etc. For the course of the Monte Carlo World Championship there were about 12,000 total views just on Channel 1. As an aside, the 2014 Akiko vs. Doug Mayfield final set the known record with a high of 550 simultaneous viewers.
As others also mentioned, streamed matches are archived for later viewing. There are some great matches archived. One of my favorites is the 2013 (?) Monte Carlo final between Slava Pryadkin and Lars Trabolt with Falafel commenting. Very exciting with a lot of tension and emotion from Falafel in addition to his expert analysis.
Since this year's Granstedt/Russell finals, slightly more than 1,000 have viewed the archived video w/o commentary and about 1,500 have viewed the archived video w/ commentary.
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