Poker Streaming in India: Challenges & the Way Ahead (Part 2)

A fortnight back, we had highlighted how there’s been a tremendous surge in poker streaming in India. Streaming as a genre is not easy, and as we discovered after speaking to many upcoming streamers in the country, it’s still a very nascent space.

Having established that poker streaming is an effective medium to bring the game to a much broader audience, it became imperative to canvass the way ahead. For this follow-up feature, I got in touch with the pioneers in this space and other key stakeholders to gain a better perspective on this subject.

Streaming pioneer Nikhil Segel had many valuable insights to share. For the Delhi-based architect, winning a Platinum Pass to the PSPC in 2018 was the turning point of his poker career. He realized how the Indian poker community was still at its infancy, and streaming could help the sector grow. Segel has worked tirelessly to build a community around his streams, and he has clocked in over 150 hours doing so – way more than any other streamer in the country.

Early streamers like Shivam Jain, Mia Ismail, and content creators like Raj Juneja, who has dabbled with streaming, also contributed by sharing their views on this subject.

To bring the industry aspect into the discussion, I reached out to the top online poker brands like Spartan Poker, PokerBaazi, and PokerStars India, which have been prominent advocates of the medium.

Then there is Sidharth Mishra, who leads the first and only poker production team in the country that has set up live-streams for all major poker tournaments in Goa and even the Poker Sports League (PSL).

We revisit the theme here – does the Indian poker sector need streamers at all? What are the problems they are facing, and what can be done to take poker streaming in India to the next level?

Let’s find out what these dedicated players and equally driven industry components had to say.

Yes, We Need Streaming!

Poker streaming is certainly not easy, but it is helping the game grow. For streamers, reaching out to and bonding with players in the community who share their love for the game is a big motivation.

“For me, streaming was a tool rather than a goal towards that community building,” said Nikhil Segel, remembering how apart from him it was, Sharad Rao, Shivam Jain, Mia Ismail, Goonjan Mall and Anmol Srivats who experimented with streaming initially.

Segel was encouraged to stream by PokerStars India, and he quickly identified that bringing mixed games to India would bring pros and recreational players together.

“Mixed Games removed the edge that the pros had over recreational players to a great extent and allowed us to play together without being totally crushed by the super pros. Today the mixed games community that we have has pros like Anant Purohit regularly playing besides micro-stakes grinders who are often more excited about besting a pro on the FT than the up-top (prize money) that the game may offer.”

Segel has been consistently streaming twice a week since last year – every Monday and Wednesday. He is also the only Indian on the listing of global poker small twitch streamers.

Watch Segel’s streams on his Twitch channel here

Featuring among the early crop of Indian poker streamers is Shivam Jain. Jain who streams on Twitch and YouTube from ‘Cyflopse’ has clocked nearly 140 hours of live-streaming. He also won the PokerStars India’ UFC KO Series – Streamer Challenge back in June. Like Segel, Jain also feels strongly about promoting the game. “One of the facts that I have realized so far is that streaming has shaped my game and confidence,” he said, adding, “The thing I like about streaming is we can show how skillful poker is and grow this game on our shoulders.”

Poker Streaming: A Fad or Here to Stay?

Poker streaming is definitely here to stay, feels Jain, pointing out that streaming platforms have shown more engagement than ever, whether on Discord, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, or Instagram.

“Poker is new to India, but the market is so huge that even we have no idea how huge we are going to grow as a community.”

Although he says Indian streamers have a lot of catching up to do to reach the top, it’s commendable how the community is passionate and improving really fast!

Challenges For Poker Streaming

The Gambling Tag & the Legality Issue

The fact that poker involves cards, and is associated with gambling, continues to present a mental roadblock.

Mia Ismail, who jumped into the streaming bandwagon only a year ago, pointed out: “Poker streams are clubbed with other forms of adult entertainment, and people watching them tend to hide it when someone else approaches them. This mindset that playing or watching poker is something illegal needs to be flushed out and the best way is ‘Word of Mouth.”

The bottom line? The industry needs to come together to promote poker as a game of skill, and streaming can play a significant role here. “We as a community need to come forward and show the side of poker that we as players, fell in love with..! “Ismail said.

Raj Juneja, an entrepreneur and poker content creator believes that the base problem with poker streaming is: “In many of the states poker is illegal…You can’t advertise poker on FB very easily. Google algorithms also block you, so the organic reach of my YouTube channel is also not as open as it would be in the US or anywhere else where poker is admissible.”

Segel raised a pertinent issue that poker streamers face. “Finding music that doesn’t challenge the FaceBook and YouTube algorithms on copyrights, the bringing down of poker content on YouTube, and the ongoing battle to be recognized as a game of skill and differentiated from other games of chance. Twitch is now also getting very conscious about the copyright infringements. Even though I only use NightBot as the source for my music, I get regular muting of my streams despite using copyright free covers.”

Managing Stream Quality

The fact that poker streaming is an arduous task that can be tedious, and technically demanding, pops up significant challenges for new streamers to present quality streams.

Juneja rightly pointed out, “The issue with tournament streaming or any streaming is, you’re on the pedestal live, and you’re playing live, and thousands of people are judging you, and there’s a chat where people are commenting. Public speaking is an art, I think Sharad (Rao) was doing a bang-up job, and he was on a schedule when he was with PokerStars India.”

Maintaining the quality of content and streaming consistently is not easy. We asked Juneja, who recently shipped a tourney on PokerStars India while live-streaming his session.

“That was a good feature tournament to win, and that gave me a good boost to give streaming a shot,” he recalled, adding though that he still prefers content creation to poker streaming. “Streaming is still a bit outside my comfort zone, I’m getting used to it.”

Dismal Viewership

According to Segel, viewership is undoubtedly a problem in India. “There is no bigger challenge for any streamer than having no viewers and still keeping on streaming or to see the plateauing of your viewer base,” he said, admitting that finding, retaining, and building viewership was a big challenge.

“I go through my ups and downs and now have a fairly consistent viewership, yet one always wants to identify means to grow those numbers.”

Ismail agreed, “There are a limited number of people who regularly watch Twitch where almost all players prefer streaming. As streaming in India is in its nascent stages, it will take some time for the viewer base to increase as it’s a gradual process.”

Streaming Exposes Game Strategy?

Can streams be exploited for data mining? Segel feels it can since the player pool is small, and top rung pros who stream would be sharing their gameplay with competitors.

“They (pros) would end up regularly playing people who now can data mine and exploit the information that has been shared on stream.”

Players need to have some tricks up their sleeves, but that’s challenging, he added. “At the global level, since the player pool is so much larger, the odds of being data mined and exploited are lower from what I have seen.”

Free Content – A Misnomer?

Yes, everyone wants free content, but streamers need some sort of monetization or support to keep going.

Segel makes an important observation, “I think the biggest challenge that independent poker streamers face in India is the belief amongst the viewer base that content should be free and that most viewers aren’t comfortable with spending for viewing content.”

He emphasized that streamers must be recognized as content creators who expend a lot of time, money, and energy to stream and or create content. “The concept of freebies and tickets as a lure to draw viewers is counter-intuitive to the long term growth of the streaming community.”

Here, Juneja feels, streaming needs to evolve into a scenario where streamers can consistently do it as a job, and get paid for it. Here’s where big poker companies can really step in, “The next driver towards the content for sites would be streaming.”

Poker Brands Have Stepped in, Already

We asked Jay Mavani, Marketing and Strategy Director of PokerStars India, about how relevant he thought the trend of streaming is. He pointed out, “The appetite for live-streaming, in general, is bigger than ever. The potential for live-streaming games is slowly but surely becoming mainstream. We see the trend as extremely relevant in growing the game of poker, engaging the masses, and not only educating upcoming players but also entertaining the community at large.”

PokerStars India was the first online poker site to identify and support the concept of streaming in the country. Mavani affirmed that investing in the right talent and avenues to grow the sport will always be an integral part of the brand’s plans.

Marketing Head, PokerBaazi, Varun Ganjoo, underlined that a lot is happening on social media each day. The importance of relevant content grows day by day, “Poker streaming is an interesting content format for poker players. It’s a good medium for the ones in their beginner phase to learn some nuances of the game. Poker streaming has been one of the highest user engagement generating formats.”

Even before the lockdown, PokerBaazi was already generating a lot of streaming content from offline tournaments at PokerBaazi LIVE regularly, and according to Ganjoo, the brand intends to continue doing so.

Anuj Barasia, Senior VP Marketing at Spartan Poker, feels that poker streaming is exceptionally relevant today. According to him, it is a terrific medium for players who want to share their knowledge and those who wish to improve their skills by observing the better players.

“Ever since the advent of Twitch, there has been an ever-increasing interest in streaming, both from a creator and spectator perspective. The fact that Amazon bought over the medium in 2014 gives enough indication of just how widespread this phenomenon was – is – and will be going ahead.”

“This is great from a poker perspective (or any sport for that matter). If you aspire to do well, absorbing the knowledge of seeing, firsthand, someone play is invaluable, especially when they walk you through the strategic aspects of the game. And aside from this education angle, streaming is just good, fun entertainment for those interested.” Barasia added.

According to him, players need to decide whether they intend to pursue streaming for education, or entertainment, and build their brand on that, at least initially.

Brand Support – Is It Enough?

Brand support is clearly essential, and it’s encouraging to see poker brands firing up the streaming engine with more fuel.

Like Ganjoo points out, “More and more people are showing interest in this field,… streaming online is a lot more scalable. There are a lot of streamers in the western regions; however, we believe in being #vocalforlocal. People want to see more games being streamed by our own players. We will continue to do our bit in the future as well.”

Spartan Poker is another site actively supporting streamers. “Yes, this is the future of gaming and entertainment, so we do expect poker streaming to be part of our plans. Technology is evolving rapidly, so we need to keep up with current trends, and poker streaming is very accessible to every type of enthusiast, from casual to serious,” Barasia underlined.

Segel, however, warned that we do need the industry’s support, but this is a double-edged sword, and the community needs to start supporting independent streamers or soon, many will drop out. “The industry can’t support every streamer, and independent streamers will not be able to sustain their passion for streaming without the monetization.”

The Production Perspective

While the energy and drive of Indian poker streamers are laudable, most are still churning out very raw-looking streams.

So how can these streamers improve the stream quality? According to Shivam Jain, poker streamers need to smartly invest in post-production, to improve their quality. Jain himself is planning to start streaming again from next month with a new production set up.

Sidharth Mishra, who is the co-founder of Hashtag Productions, agrees. “I see a lot of streamers who just get on the stream without thinking of their background. These new boys have zero production knowledge, and most people aren’t even aware that we can create Twitch overlays for streamers. We did this for Eka Vedantham around two years back when he was streaming three tables simultaneously for Adda(52), Spartan (Poker), and (Poker) Baazi.”

Mishra, who has been a mainstream Bollywood filmmaker, was first approached by Adda52 to set up live-streaming for the DPT tournaments. It’s been three-and-half years since Mishra entered the poker industry, and he has successfully built a flourishing business around his expertise in the poker industry.

Today, Mishra’s team, with a core group of 10 members, including his Editor-in-Chief, Dhawal Gohil, and HOD for Production, Karan Vig, is the only specialized group in India live-streaming poker tournament. From the DPT to BPT, and IPC, Hashtag Productions has handled the live-streaming of all prominent live tournaments in Goa, and even offered their consultancy in the designing and construction of the Baazi Poker Room.

Mishra strongly believes in growing the poker community and said that he was open to helping streamers elevate their stream quality if they approached him.

Is this growing interest in poker streaming scalable? According to him – “Absolutely! We’re soon going to bring the Poker Sports League (PSL) from live to digital space. We had to think out of the box for this one, and you will still see the league coming on together, but in a virtual format. I can’t reveal much at this moment, but our app Hashtag Poker is under development. Within it, we will have the functionality of a live stream, so that we can transcend the live experience to a virtual experience seamlessly.”

Taking Streaming to the Next Level

According to Jain, recreational players will play a significant role in taking streaming to the next level. “Be authentic, know your USP, and keep it real. Be honest and blunt. If it was a bad day for you in poker, don’t hesitate to share your experience with your community.”

Juneja underlined the urgent need to focus on the performance aspect, and streamers should have a plan and a topic to talk about while streaming. “People actually come there to listen to you. Choose a topic, and focus on that – Shobhit (Bhargava) also does this…this way, you can actually control the quality of the stream. People will like your content more and watch more.”

Mishra raised a crucial point – “The streams need to look good, offer some sort of production value. There is a market in poker streaming where we could start selling overlays, and this is where it’s headed.”

Streaming needs to be taken as seriously as bankroll management, according to Mavani. Picking the right content, choosing quality over quantity, and being hands-on with the tech to start with, as also, “following a strict schedule with consistency being key, being super interactive and friendly with viewers via chat… planning and executing a content roll-out strategy… etc.,” are vital for long-term success, according to him.

Conclusion – A Great Start But Still a Long Way to Go

VERDICT: Yes, evidently, Indian streamers have a long way to go before they can be called “world-class.” That said, if poker companies start investing in streamers smartly, things could blow up fast. The end goal should be to grow the game and not only propagate a particular brand.

Streamers also need to put in the effort to innovate with content ideas and keep experimenting to improve their streaming skills, especially given how accessible quality digital entertainment is today.

As for the poker community, all those who believe in and love poker should support the upcoming poker streamers by watching their streams and share feedback to help them improve.