IMPACT Wrestling - Stream 1 Online Live Stream Strikeout
In the modern age of professional wrestling, a vital part of any promotion's success rests on how fans can access their content. With changing consumption habits, television isn't quite as powerful in the wrestling industry as it used to be. Though the WWE and AEW have big money network contracts to finance their exploits, smaller wrestling companies have found ways to thrive in the internet age. With sites like IWTV and Fite TV providing a platform for independent promotions to stream their events, there are so many options for how a promotion can get their shows in front of fans. One such venture into the world of online streaming that was perhaps too ahead of the curve was Impact Wrestling's venture onto Twitch.
IMPACT Wrestling - Stream 1 Online Live Stream | Strikeout
Twitch rose to prominence as a site for hosting gaming content, with users streaming their gameplay to viewers which has gone on to massively change the video game ecosystem. The site gradually opened up to hosting different types of content, with creators finding new ways to use the platform for the likes of talk shows, arts and crafts, watch-alongs, and beyond. With the live aspect being so inherently present to Twitch, it's obvious to see the potential for some crossover with the world of professional wrestling.
Before the simulcast of their weekly television show, Impact had already been producing content on the live streaming platform. One-off co-promoted shows with independent promotions were broadcast on the Impact Wrestling Twitch channel, working to prove that the site could competently be used to host their product. The weekly Impact! show would later find a home on AXS TV in October 2019, but the Twitch simulcast remained in place for the time being.
It was announced in August 2021 that the Impact partnership with Twitch was finished, with the promotion replacing it with a premium service where, for $0.99 a month, fans could become an 'Impact Wrestling Insider' and access live streams of Impact! on YouTube instead. Whilst the Twitch partnership was a useful step in injecting life back into Impact Wrestling, it was only a stop-gap measure until they could settle into something more sustainable.
The move to YouTube gives Impact another cash stream with the paywall, as well as more brand recognition. As much as Twitch has grown over the past few years, it is still very much a niche website that can be a hard sell, even at a free price point. Plus, as the first major promotion to try and utilize the power of Twitch, Impact was facing an uphill struggle to cement the site as a place for fans to watch pro wrestling. Other companies have broadcast on the site, most notably with AAA airing some of their biggest shows for free over Twitch, but most promotions tend to opt for more specialized platforms like Fite TV.
On April 20, Impact announced a merger with Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling (GFW).[113] The company subsequently announced that they were re-branding again and taking the GFW name in June;[1] the re-branding was short-lived as they severed ties with Jarrett that October.[114] During that time, Anthem launched the Global Wrestling Network, a new streaming service which featured content from to their tape library and other sources.[115] Jarrett subsequently filed a lawsuit against Anthem in the District Court of Tennessee for copyright infringement over the GFW rights;[116][117] the lawsuit was ultimately settled out of court.[118]
Don Callis and Scott D'Amore became executive vice presidents in January 2018, taking charge of Impact Wrestling's day-to-day operations.[119] At the first tapings under their tenure, the company reverted to a traditional four-sided ring, and the show also saw the return of former World Heavyweight Champion Austin Aries, as well the debuts of new wrestlers such as Kiera Hogan, Su Yung, Pentagón Jr., Fénix and Brian Cage.[120] The company also announced a partnership with live streaming service Twitch to produce content for their platform, starting with Brace for Impact, which was co-promoted with New Jersey-based promotion WrestlePro. Their first live show was Impact vs. Lucha Underground, a co-promoted show with Lucha Underground.[121]
In November 2022, Impact and DAZN signed a partnership where the streaming service will distribute select non-live shows in most countries except the United States, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.[138]
The WWE Extreme Rules pay per view may be streamed on a number of free online sources. However, the majority of those free live streaming services are unstable and require subscriptions or a one-time purchase. You may also have issues with uninvited advertisements.
Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS) is a managed live streaming solution that is quick and easy to set up, and ideal for creating interactive video experiences. Learn more about Amazon IVS, and explore code samples and demos.
The event will be broadcast on PPV via the streaming service live now across the world along with being available on FITE in the United States. Impact Wrestling fans in Canada who are looking to watch the action can do so via the FITEPASS service.
Yeah. I think so because you're right in pointing out just the various decisions that had to be made. The decision to, "Are we going to prerecord this or are we going to go live? How are we going to stream?" There were so many decisions to make. How did you walk through that process? And what did that look like for you specifically? Because those conversations I'm sure were difficult conversations to have, and there are positives and negatives on both sides.
Oh man. A lot of challenges. So a church right down the road that I grew up at, I know them really well. They didn't have any cameras, they didn't have a video switcher. They had really no way of getting it to the web. And so they scrambled real quick and decided from... Thankfully they were financially at a place where they could invest some money, which obviously we'll start there. Money is a big problem a lot of times. And so they were at a place where they could buy a couple of cameras and a video switcher. Some folks jumped in and we said, "Okay, we can help get you going." But other churches decided like, "Hey, I'm going to use my iPhone and use Facebook live." In fact, a lot of churches don't even stream to their website. They do Facebook live or YouTube live or these free sources.
I think streaming online is definitely one of those things, because at the end of the day, you think about the vulnerable folks. The folks that like, "Okay, COVID-19 is a big deal." And those folks are not going to come attend the in-person service for a long time. And so there's an expectation now, set with no matter if you're the 100 person church or the 10,000 person church, that there's going to be some type of web stream, some type of way to get the church content some way to feel like you're part of a church body and our membership, that's going to have to exist for a good long time. I don't know if it will really ever go away. I think it just... To be honest, pre COVID-19, everybody had some theories about online engagement, had some theories about ways of doing church online. And what is the online church look like.
Well, COVID-19 just thrust us into this experiment and said, "Okay, Hey, we're going to figure it out. And we're going to see how it goes." And I think we've learned a lot of things like having a web stream or putting your content on the web matters. And I think people engage with it and it's going to happen. And I think you're just going to have to have it, whether it's five people online or whether it's a 100,000 people online viewing it. It's just going to become part of your thing that you do, no matter what size church you are. Which means your budgets change, which means operationally now you have video system that you got to maintain, you've got some subscription services you've got to deal with. And so, your 2021 budget is different in production now, than it was previously. And then that brings up a whole bunch of decision-making things that whoever the production person is, has to make some of those decisions. But yeah. Does that answer your question?
Yeah. And you took us to an interesting place and that is talking about budgets for 2021, and production directors and people who are in leadership positions, making decisions as far as what decisions do we make with equipment, with software, with technology, things along those lines. How do we evolve with the understanding that online streaming will be a thing forward moving. And I think that these are always tricky conversations to have between church leadership and production directors, because there can be an element of not speaking the same language.
Production director, trying to convey why this is important in church leadership, maybe not understanding terminology and what exactly that person is trying to communicate. I know that's a circumstance I've seen play out in the past. And just wondering if you have any advice for people who are in that circumstance. Production directors who are trying to convey the importance of new equipment, new technology ways that will enable them to better stream online in the future. Any tips for speaking the same language as church leadership and trying to understand one another. 041b061a72