I’ve been watching video game streamers on Twitch.tv lately - primarily shroud and chocoTaco. Other than being exceptionally good at PUBG, they have interesting anecdotes throughout the stream and know how to keep things interesting. Perhaps most intriguing to me is how different their lives are compared to mine. I go into an office, work on my computer along with a slew of other people, and head home about 9 hours later. The likes of shroud and chocoTaco wake up, turn on their computers, flip on their webcams, and broadcast their screens and faces to whomever is interested in watching.

I find this endlessly intriguing. What is their relationship with video games? Do they game after “work”? How do they feel about their lives being broadcast to so many people? How much of their personal life do they divulge? Do they worry about people seeing their eating, dressing, and bathroom habits?

I recently rewatched The Truman Show. Besides being a very enjoyable movie, it has thought provoking commentary on social media today and, being released in 1998, was ahead of its time. There is a fantastic Nerdwriter video about it which I highly recommend.

I can’t help but see the parallels between streamers on Twitch.tv and The Truman Show. The most obvious being a window into someone else’s life.

The platform makes it trivial to have a constant video stream of whatever you choose. The Truman Show, specifically the fake show inside the movie, was a massive production but it doesn’t have to be to get a similar effect. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there is a stream emulating The Truman Show because the barrier to entry is so low these days. Probably not of a person against their will but very likely of a pet who is none the wiser.

Perhaps the most interesting parallel is advertising because it’s already happening to some degree. Meryl Burbank, Truman’s wife, often advertises directly to a camera while in the same room as Truman. This is effective because it is embedded into the content and there are lots of eyeballs on the screen. This differs from traditional advertising in that the advertisements are in a distinct section compared to the content. This has a severe disadvantage because we have all learned to ignore this type of advertising.

Streamers can be sponsored by companies and brand their stream. They can get more subtle by getting paid to casually mention a product during their stream. Or get even more subtle by showing a branded coffee mug to the webcam.

I’d imagine this would be super effective because the streamers have 1000’s of subscribers and a very particular audience and I’m surprised that this isn’t more common.