š® What's happening on Channel 3
This post is for fans of entrepreneurship, gaming, and Channel 3
I missed my Friday substack last week.
I used the writing time to create the Esports Broadcasting course Iām teaching. It started Monday.
I had to do the whole course outline, setup, syllabus, etc. in 3 days! I wonāt say exactly how much Iām being paid to be an adjunct professor, but letās just say if you divide the total by hours worked, Iām already approaching minimum wage and the course isnāt even a week over!
Luckily, Iām not doing it for the money. Iām doing it because the youth are our future and THEY MUST KNOW HOW TO BROADCAST ESPORTS! Changing the world, yāall.
Thereās a lot to catch up on. Hereās a bulleted list of whatās happening on Channel 3.
Started teaching esports at a collegiate level.
My course is Esports Broadcasting, essentially a streaming course. Iāve divided it into 3 sections cuz I freakin love the number 3.FUNDAMENTALS: stream setup, graphics, audio, video, bots/APIs
PROMOTION: audience growth, clips, game reviews, challenges, memes (seriously)
EVENTS: event streaming, Fortnite/Fall Guys/Rocket League event hosting, co-casting, multi-POV dashboards, Twitch collaborations
I destroyed children in Mario Kart for charity at the BB4k Bubble Blast.
Channel 3 will do a lot of charity stuff. This was the first. It was so great. I didnāt actually destroy any children. We all had fun. Art is a lie, nothing is real. But I did beat the Executive Directorās adult son in a super close grand prix.I was on JonJon and Friends on KISS 107.1.
I am so impressed with Jon. You probably donāt realize this and maybe he doesnāt want people to know, but I walked into the studio and it was literally just me and him chilling in a smallish room. He is his own producer, editor, everything. Heās a total pro and so dang good at what he does. I really respect and admire a jack of all trades like that.This week I went back to 84.51 for the first time since I quit 5ish years ago!
I was there to speak to their Consumer Research group. I loved it so much. It was one of my favorite speaking gigs ever. I talked about turning off your default setting to remove bias and be happier, more grateful, and more empathetic. All anchored by a lifechanging commencement address by David Foster Wallace called THIS IS WATER.Channel 3 applied for and obtained Nintendo press credentials!
LETās-A-GO.Optimizing the Channel 3 business model.
The primary rev driver for Channel 3 will be paid battlepass-like subscriptions.
For season 1, we had over 50 PAID gamers. Thatās right, WE HAVE OVER 50 PAYING USERS ALREADY.
We had a tiered approach, with tiers starting at $15 and going up to $60. I did this because I wanted a āpick your priceā model. I regretted this move almost instantly. Way too complicated. So for Season 2, which starts October 1, weāll have a SINGLE Turbo package, $5/month. Turbo gamers unlock digital assets and get early access to cool features, and more.Channel 3 LLC became an S Corp and brightened a post office workerās day.
Just a tax thing but I mention it because when I went to the Post Office for certified mail, the post office worker said āChannel 3? Whatās that?ā I told him itās a new social network for gamers. He lit up immediately, telling me how his son is a huge gamer, ranked nationally in a game, and he is a gamer too, nearly winning several huge Madden tournaments. Before the convo came up, he seemed a little down or disgruntled. After talking Channel 3 for 1 minute, he was energized and passionate. WE ARE ONTO SOMETHING.I met with Shanda Harris, Director of NKU Esports.
She was a delight! She has amazing skills and expertise in gaming. I think weāll have many opportunities to collaborate in the future.We continue hosting weekly events.
So freakin fun. Tonight is the first night we are breaking the Rocket League event into two brackets by skill level. This is important. Its a big part of Channel 3ās very existence. The dream is weāll have hundreds of people playing in events. Using the data layer of the platform, weāll be able to create personalized lobbies/brackets/etc for people based on skill level, play style, etc. So while just having two tournaments at the same time seems minor, itās a big first step.I continue cranking out code!
The platform is progressing DAILY. Right now Iām ironing out some UX stuff ahead of a bigger user push in September and October. Hereās a photo of me explaining to my family what Iām working on.
(Originally I was putting post its all over that wall but then one morning they started falling off. So I bought 8 corkboards from Michaels and painted them. Entrepreneurship!)
Channel 3 would be nothing without the alpha user base. Shout out to all of you!
Especially shouts out to the cr3w helping manage the library, quests, challenges, events, casting, and more. Specifically dantucker, elrey, hoosier, bucket, bvr, papab, bayesic, joob, all the featured streamers, and everyone giving amazing and constructive feedback.
This thing is very early on, and not gonna lie, itās a bit rough in parts, but I believe more than ever that itās gonna become something great. Your early trust in the vision means everything to me!
Iāll never forget it.