Sitting in his apartment in Bahrain, Sandeep K.V, a Malayali expatriate from Maradu, was hooked to a YouTube channel on most evenings a couple of months ago. An amateur football league was under way in Kochi, and he did not want to miss the team he backed in action. The live streaming of matches on the league’s YouTube channel ensured that he had fun despite being away.
Web streaming, from live streaming of entire matches to highlights compressed into reels on social media platforms, has become the buzz word for amateur sporting events, taking it to a larger audience.
“There is a definite surge in the streaming of amateur sporting events, helping talented players to make that transition to the professional level. The footage from streaming serves as authentic proof of their performance while making their case before scouts. It is also important from the sponsorship angle as sponsors would demand documented profile of the event they funded,” said Charles Raj, vice president of Hermanos FC Foundation, which recently conducted the third season of their football league with live streaming of important matches.
Gone are the days when footage from CCTV cameras at the venue was considered prized possessions. Instead, there are multiple cameras capturing the action and streaming it with live commentary not to mention the elaborate graphics, player profiles, statistics and replays.
While football and cricket remain the dominant sports when it comes to streaming, other sports seem to be fast catching up with the players in the field vouching that the potential is far from fully explored. Streaming can be minimally done using a single camera or with multiple cameras depending on the budget. Decent streaming of a match with three cameras would cost about ₹25,000 to ₹35,000.
“There is demand for both live streaming of the entire match and capturing specific players or performances. Everyone is looking for global exposure and streaming offers that introduction to the outside world,” said Vijay Immanuel, whose company has been streaming events for the last three years.
Ajay Ghosh, one of the earliest proponents of cricket commentary for streaming, said that with the proliferation of streamed matches commentating has become a potential livelihood. After taking a break, Mr. Ghosh, an employee of Technopark, has now returned to commentating in his spare time.
