The Rise of the Jiu-Jitsu Live Stream Part 1
Over the past 10 years, internet video has evolved
immensely. Internet speeds have increased and with it what we are capable of
ingesting digitally. Before you had to download a video to watch it until
YouTube came along and then suddenly, there are many video streaming sites that
will provide you with anything from entertainment to education.
Our video technology has also increased while becoming more
affordable. People have become famous with just a webcam and an opinion or a
cell phone and clips that are seconds long. It was only natural that we would
get to a point where a live stream for cheap would be possible.
Jiu-jitsu comparatively is still in the dark ages. In a
world where digital is now king and people are opting for services like Hulu
and Netflix, DVD players are becoming obsolete as well as the media they exist
on. However, people still want to release instructional and competition DVD’s
despite there being better ways to sell the product. It all ends up on YouTube
or Vimeo anyway. Unfortunately this was the only way to make extra money with
jiu-jitsu until tournament organizers started to pay their fighters.
Now we have pay per views such as Copa Podio, Metamoris, the
Eddie Bravo Invitational, and Polaris. They hire professional production crews
with gear that costs upwards of $10,000 and they make it part of their business
to do these events. Budo Videos is one of the groups that has a monopoly on the
big events in America and rightfully so. They put out a good product.
However, 10’s of thousands of dollars is not reasonable for
the typical jiu-jitsu practitioner or even gym owner and people want results
faster than after the competition is over and while there are many, many
photographers in the sport, it seems that not many are willing to take the
plunge into the broadcasting realm.
Insert us: The BJJ Hour. I had been live streaming video
games for a few years by the time I had started jiu-jitsu in 2011. In 2014,
Mike Mihas and myself decided to start the podcast and bring Kody Tuttle on
board and a month later, the Rock Solid Grappling Challenge was going on. He
wanted to do an audio only broadcast of the competition with commentary. I
decided to take it a step further: Let’s do live video.
After a few events, others started to attempt their own
streams of competitions. People broadcasted from iPhones. Others tried to use
webcams from laptops. People would hear about a competition and the first
question is “Is it going to be live streamed?” Jiu-jitsu is finally catching
up.
Names became personalities. You not only heard of Garry
Tonon, Kenan Cornelius, Pablo Castro, and found videos, but you got to know
them through the live stream. You could see them on the mat competing and then
hear them talk after or before matches. Sometimes
they’d be in the chat with everyone else watching. Jiu-jitsu live streaming had
connected everyone from the top to the bottom.
