I think the ANRPC (and the game brand as a whole) would benefit greatly not just from more streaming, but centralized and predictable streaming. I don’t really play MTG anymore, but I still tune in on weekends for SCG tournament casts because they’re solid background entertainment that I know will usually be there. (The metaphor I like to use to explain it to people is it’s like golf was for our parents.) If I knew every weekend one particular channel would be showing streams from an ANRPC event somewhere in the country/world, that would be much easier for me (or Casual Viewer no. 3) to get invested in.
That, and I’d recruit two or three players in each region to step into the casting role more full-time - to ensure two of them are available to cast every circuit tournament. Repeated experience and personality are major factors in being good at this job; hell, you can hear how much better Wooley et al have become over the last few years at explaining to and engaging their audience. Then if there was just one ANRPC (or whatever) twitch channel, we could build a brand through sheer perseverance.
There are an absurd number of hurdles to being able to pull something like that off. SCG can do it because they make a boatload of money off their MTG store. I would venture to guess that their streaming by itself it written off as marketing expenses, because it’s hard to see them making money off of it based on how much they invest into it.
ANRPC events are usually around the side of store champ events, nowhere close to the size and prize pool of an SCG Open. It would not yet be worth it to fly a team of people around with crates full of production equipment just for brand awareness and consistency for an organization that makes negative money.
The best we can do is have streams in each area of whatever quality can be mustered by someone who happens to know how to stream in the area and has good enough equipment. Usually there would be no commentary, by my guess, since the commentators would more likely prefer to play than commentate, unless they have already qualified.
SCG’s level of production is hard and expensive. Believe me, I’ve tried, and I’ve gotten as close as I can get. I still have a lot to smooth out to get there, but if someone wants to do what I’m doing, they are in for a ride.
TL;DR: Doing what SCG does in terms of streaming is extremely hard logistically and technologically, and financially impractical both in terms of equipment costs and travel expenses. People can probably get as close as they can in terms of production value and scheduling on their own, but the SCG dream is far off for now.
Maybe. Inconsistent production quality could have the opposite effect of never knowing if a stream will have good production with quality video and commentary, or just a webcam pointed at a table at 360p. If we did that, we would probably want to have an art package that we gave to everyone streaming with instructions on how to use it, and an expectation of some quality minimum.
You’ll run into a similar problem of production quality and commentary, not to mention relying on a lot of different people for getting videos up in a timely manner.
I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer about this. I just think that as far as the ANRPC goes, there are several more important things to focus on to help it become a more established and respected organization in the larger community. I can do what I can do in terms of stream production where I am, but unless I am paid, I can’t do it outside the Atlanta area. I was able to do it for King of Servers on a more limited scale (though my overweight bag full of production equipment still cost $100 just to check) but that can’t be a normal thing for me for just any old weekend, especially if it’s for a random-ass 25-man ANRPC qualifier.