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How StarCraft 2 Could Work on TV
Now before I begin the meat of this post, let me put a disclaimer out there. This piece isn’t about whether StarCraft should be on TV, but rather how it could work if it was on TV. The argument of whether or not SC2 should be on TV has beaten to death and I’m not here to kick it any further.
Are we good?
Sweet. Now let’s begin.
Out With the Familiar, In With the Different
The first thing that would have to go is the current tournament format. That doesn’t mean it can’t continue the way it has online, but viewers on TV aren’t going to have the attention span that most SC2 fans do. The goal here is to appeal to an audience larger than the current SC2 community. They need to reach out and grab other viewers, or else there’s no point. Therefore any current tournaments like MLG and IPL would be pointless to try and translate to a TV experience. It’s better to start fresh than ruin what already works online.
The current long format with multiple games and several streams is only going to confuse new viewers or make them feel like they’re only getting half the action. They need to be able to get the whole package. The solution? Shorter, single elimination tournaments. This keeps things clean and crisp with minimal complications and confusion. He who wins advances and he who loses is out. It’d be very easy for new viewers to catch on to.
You also don’t need to show so many games in a single day. People aren’t going to be watching StarCraft 2 for seven hours straight. They’re going to want it in smaller chunks (closer to regular sports games). This would help extend smaller tournaments while keeping the viewership happy.
The Rise of Team Games
People enjoy one-vs-one sports like UFC and other martial art related sports, but all of the most popular sports in the world are team sports. People enjoy watching team members work together towards a common goal. Nothing is more spectacular to watch than when everything clicks into place and a “play” goes exactly as that team had planned.
This is something StarCraft 2 could use to its advantage. While anything above 2v2 is seen as a more “casual fun zone” type of game mode, I think if utilized properly there is a wealth of material there for people to enjoy. Sure it may not be as “in depth” as 1v1 but put a prize pool in front of those teams and you bet your ass they’ll be trying to figure out the best way to win.
A More Defined Season
The tournament scene for SC2 on TV would have to be streamlined. Instead of several different tournaments going on right near or at the same time as each other there needs to a more defined season similar to football or baseball. The smaller format detailed above would help with this.
This makes things easy to follow for the casual viewer. He doesn’t have to wonder which tournament this is, which players are still playing, what the prize pool is, who the casters are, etc etc. He can tune in any time and know what the deal is because it’s been the same all year.
Create Characters
As Artosis once stated in a State of the Game episode, the biggest advantage SC2 has is its diversity. People from all different backgrounds play the game at the highest level. Many of them are already figures (whether they like it or not) that the community looks up to. Take these people like White-Ra, Naniwa, Huk*, and make them stars. Build them up so people will want to invest in them and their story. Nothing is more exciting than cheering on your favorite player whether their part of a larger team or on their own.
*There are of course many more people worthy of being built up, I just didn’t feel like boring everyone with a “complete” list.
Money Makes the World Go ‘Round
Obviously the biggest hurdle for StarCraft 2 is monetization. How do networks make money off of StarCraft? It’s not a sport where there are times and places to break (except for the occasional pause). Ads would have to be presented similarly to how they’re presented online. Commercials are played in between games, sponsorships are talked about by casters, and perhaps a few overlays could work?
I realize that this is clearly the biggest obstacle, but my lack of knowledge in the advertisement industry makes it difficult for me to pinpoint the exact way ads should be approached. No doubt there is a solution that I haven’t found yet. It’s certainly not impossible.
So what do you guys think? Would you enjoy watching something like this on TV alongside the big online tournaments?
I’d also like to apologize for my horrendous grammar.
  
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hmm just wondering did you make a new account just to post this blog or do you really only have three posts lolol?
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So in other words change pretty much everything that makes SC2 tournaments great just to appeal to TV? No thanks.
Also you can act like missing some commercials is no biggie, but when commercials on TV cost over $100,000 per run, one long ass macro game could cost you $400,000-$500,000. Not a good deal.
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I think we as a community need to move away from the idea that we must get our sport on TV in order for it to be successful. Esports dominates TwitchTV, and I think the way to go is online streaming, as it is less expensive and the people who are likely to be interested already have a computer with Internet. I think it is more effective to reach out to demographics that are likely to become interested rather than to target everyone and experience a backlash.
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Starcraft2 is too big for tv, who watches tv anymore anyway?
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Team League. 1 match per episode.
this is short enough for TV. Theres the drama, the ceremonies, the team pride. More social interaction and hype in general makes it more attractive for new eyeballs. More story.
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I'd definitely watch it, but I have no hopes for it being a reasonable product. I mean your essentially saying to throw everything that we have for a production, and replace it with a lower quality product, as thats what we would get. I don't see how anyone who watches tournaments now would want to watch this. Though I understand that you want to get new viewers.
Also, were any of your familiar with the Championship Gaming Series? This has already been done before + Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/user/cgs?blend=1&ob=4
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Except you're missing one key aspect - most people don't give a damn about SC2 nor would they be able to understand wtf is going on. Don't know why everyone on TL (rhetorical statement obviously) thinks that a lot of people would love watching a video game if they were exposed to it. If it was on TV, it'd probably be on some very obscure television channel that you have to pay for that no one would ever use when you have access to the internet.
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United States5162 Posts
Of course it can work. It's not like we need to reinvent the wheel here, we have a successful model to follow that has worked for 10 years. I don't believe that Korean TV works on significantly different advertising principles then the rest of the world, so the Proleague and OSL/MSL model is obviously viable.
On the other hand, I don't think moving to TV is necessary or even really beneficial, if it's forced that is. Putting SC2 on TV, while having the potential to dramatically increase exposure, also has the potential to dramatically harm the scene should it fail. I would think sponsors would be much more hesitant to invest in something that recently flopped on television.
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On February 09 2012 08:35 Itsmedudeman wrote:
Except you're missing one key aspect - most people don't give a damn about SC2 nor would they be able to understand wtf is going on. Don't know why everyone on TL (rhetorical statement obviously) thinks that a lot of people would love watching a video game if they were exposed to it.
You'd be surprised what girls did for the championship gaming series  .
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I believe marketing SC2 for TV is absolutely useless. Over the past few years, more and more things have integrated to streaming, for heavens sake 1.2 million people streamed the super bowl! I believe we need to market toward ESPN3, and those kind of programs, bigger names, but keep it streaming!
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no, it couldn't work. even korean bw barely works, and we're talking about sc2 here not bw
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On February 09 2012 07:52 cmen15 wrote:
hmm just wondering did you make a new account just to post this blog or do you really only have three posts lolol?
His account was registered in 2011. Some people don't feel the compulsion to post in everything they see.
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A lot of people forget that not just GOMtv in Korea, but Taiwan has TeSL on TV as well. Not just the Asian countries, but Dreamhack were on TV in Sweden, and Blizzcon was available on DirectTV.
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I think SC2's audience is spread too thinly across the globe to work for regular TV (ie like someone could just happen upon it, not pay for a dedicated satellite channel/international channel etc).
The fact that BW was so central to Korea was one of the reasons it was able to be broadcast on TV. SC2 just doesn't have it's roots focused enough, it is only able to survive by taking advantage of an international market (which only exists because of Blizzard's international brand power).
Admittedly you could probably run it for a bit as a gimmick, but there are better places to spend time and money for those interested in SC2 as saleable content. I don't think this is a real market to take hold of that's focused enough for a regular show.
edit: in American I mean... MAYBE in Korea it has a chance, since I guess there were vague rumours about KeSPA taking it up? I don't know how long it would last tho. I have no idea what the actual state of SC2 is in Korea.
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Weren't there some MLG broadcasts on ESPN at one point?
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On February 09 2012 08:54 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote:
Weren't there some MLG broadcasts on ESPN at one point?
MLG aired on G4, and USA network. Also was shown a little bit on ESPN, interviews and such.
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there's one major thing you're missing:
exhibit A) fixed time schedule for tv.
exhibit B) variable length of matches.
that's why tv doesnt work for videogames that are not based on timed rounds. and even if, as example an ut war, where 2 teams play in a bo3, each map is being played on for 20 mins. even here you get a variable length of 40 to 60 mins. unacceptable in tv.
stay with livestream over the internet. tv doesnt work for videogames. many have tried, all of them failed (unless you have a dedicated channel, and even then barely as endymion pointed out)
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People with ideas like this are killing eSports. Do it the Korean way or not at all; don't bastardize the sport and alienate the current fanbase in the hopes of hitting a new audience. That's how eSports has failed on TV before =/
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On February 09 2012 09:05 AwfulPlayer wrote:
there's one major thing you're missing:
exhibit A) fixed time schedule for tv.
exhibit B) variable length of matches.
that's why tv doesnt work for videogames that are not based on timed rounds. and even if, as example an ut war, where 2 teams play in a bo3, each map is being played on for 20 mins. even here you get a variable length of 40 to 60 mins. unacceptable in tv.
stay with livestream over the internet. tv doesnt work for videogames. many have tried, all of them failed (unless you have a dedicated channel, and even then barely as endymion pointed out)
I wouldn't call BW barely succeeding... That lasted for over 10 years, and in it's peak was pretty huge. Pretty good, imo.
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I don't see the commercials as being a huge issue honestly. The average game length in that Playhem dataset was around 12 minutes real time. That is pretty similar to a sport like baseball. Yah there are super long innings, but on the whole it will average out. You can sell advertising on the overlay, just like advertising is sold on the boards in hockey and on the backstop in baseball.
I mean nothing can touch football as it is just build for TV, but SC2 doesn't have all that much going against it for advertising. I think the major problem is that the market for SC2 is global rather than US based.
For reference Average baseball game is 3 hours with commercials, so 20 minutes per inning and 10 minutes per half inning.
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Isn't StarCraft already broadcasted on TV in Korea?
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Holy balls I never thought I'd be getting any responses any time soon.
And to those wondering, I don't even know what my other two posts are. I created this account last year for some purpose I no longer remember and just decided to use it to see what kind of feedback I'd get on this post.
Now my aim with this was not to take online and make it TV only. The point is for both to co-exist. I don't even think that we need TV in order to be "authenticated" or whatever as an esport. I just think it would nice to see a different approach to things.
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The variable length of Starcraft games makes it impossible to put them on TV.
Period. End of discussion. There is no way around this hurdle. When a game can last 5 minutes or 50 minutes, you cannot possibly schedule that on TV. Even if you pre-record, you then end up having different length timeslots every week, which does not work.
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On February 09 2012 10:52 Dhalphir wrote:
The variable length of Starcraft games makes it impossible to put them on TV.
Period. End of discussion. There is no way around this hurdle. When a game can last 5 minutes or 50 minutes, you cannot possibly schedule that on TV. Even if you pre-record, you then end up having different length timeslots every week, which does not work.
You're aware that BW was a variable length game and it aired on TV for the last 10 years? I don't know exactly what their system is, but it's not hard to think of solutions. You could just set time aside for review and comments, and eat into that if the games are long, or extend it if the games are short. Or run show programs designed to fill up time, like tips or interviews or other random stuff.
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2nd post today from Dhalphir that's a total eye sore.
Come on man, pick it up!
Anyway, as for the OP's ideas. No, no and no.
As for Star Power. Yes, players have to work on marketing themselves. Most certainly but as for your views on the format changes. Not necessary.
I said it once before and I'll say it again. The only thing I see working in North America is a highlight show of the world circuit. Not much else.
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What if someone was to have a cable channel for starcraft or even esports in general? Could that not work? I mean you all complain about advertising time slots but what if it was just your local tv network? You could have mlg on there to further expand the barcraft scene. Maybe In a place like LA were tons of people live?
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On February 09 2012 10:52 Dhalphir wrote:
The variable length of Starcraft games makes it impossible to put them on TV.
Period. End of discussion. There is no way around this hurdle. When a game can last 5 minutes or 50 minutes, you cannot possibly schedule that on TV. Even if you pre-record, you then end up having different length timeslots every week, which does not work.
http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/korean
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Man, sorry that no one understands what "Now before I begin the meat of this post, let me put a disclaimer out there. This piece isn’t about whether StarCraft should be on TV, but rather how it could work if it was on TV. The argument of whether or not SC2 should be on TV has beaten to death and I’m not here to kick it any further." means, I get that you are just trying to postulate how it could work but apparently not many others do...constructive comments and concerns is probably what you were looking for not the incessant whinging that goes on so often in the TL forums.
Ok so some comments on how things could be further adapted into a televised format; Instead of focusing on taditional ads, there is something that has been emerging for at least the last two decades called product placement there is the possibility that instead of using only ads and prerecorded commercials, the maps themselves could be "sponsored" by specific corporations such as MLG [map name here] by Dr. Pepper. And then there is the possibility of placing "subtle" ads and product placements into the maps themselves. Like a giant Mcdonalds doodad in the middle of the map. This may not be the traditional angle that most have approached the game with but its definitely not impossible, this also ads the posibility that when players encounter the ad in game they can try to fight in that area and maybe nuke it, put a bunch of pylons in the shape of a heart around the doodad etc. etc..
Thinking outside the box is what's needed to translate the internet phenomenon that is professional SC2 games onto the more homogenized market of television. Mass market appeal doesn't have to be a bad thing, there is something to be said for how the NFL and other professional sports organizations fit all of their requirements into an hour and change game, and still make it fast paced enough and action packed to appeal to so many fans. You don't neccessarily have to cheapen the experience to get it to "work" on TV, just streamline it in a way that won't make the die-hard fans dissappear and make it engaging enough to attract the casuals, that may or may not have ever even heard of this wacky "esports" thing they catch one day, while channel surfing. Alot of that IMO comes down to the casters. The better they are the better the game can do on TV.
Hope this helps!
Edit: Just realized that mlg already basically does the first part of what I said but with overlays. And that if you added mcdonalds doodads to the map you would probably have to pay blizzard and not mlg O.o basically rendering my entire idea useless.
Woops!
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It works for BW so I don't see why it couldn't work for SC2
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EPT
