For Want of a Cash Stream - Chiaki & Tobiko

[FreestylePoet]

From her corner office atop of LAW's headquarters, Tobiko Tadashi had a bird's-eye-view of everything that went on in this company. Everything that mattered, anyway. On her screen was a readout of the lifeblood of this company: its cash flow. Business, of course, was good. LAW's major events were only growing and growing in scale, and with the Inaugural Openweight Championship soon to be awarded, interest in LAW was at an all-time high. Numerous companies, from JAV studios and action figure brands to game developers and fashion labels, were lining up to be the next business partner. And Tobiko Tadashi had it all at her fingertips.

Tobiko Tadashi

Suddenly, the intercom on her desk phone rang out. Her secretary's voice rang out into the office.

"Miss Tadashi? Your 12 o'clock is here."

"Mm." With a few clicks, her Outlook calendar was up. Tobiko scanned today's overfilled agenda until she landed on a spot that, in an wildly out-of-character fashion, was only occupied by a single engagement. She hummed. One look at the meeting's title was all she needed for that particular page of her personal notebook to come back to her mind's eye. "Chiaki Nanami, right? The streamer?"

"Yes, Miss Tadashi."

There was another potential income stream to consider. Numerous streamers, from Nanami to Julie Dykstra-Liao to Jem Holland, had made LAW their combat sports home. Evidently one of their number had a business proposition in mind. Needless to say, the CFO of LAW was intrigued. Tobiko organized her papers, setting a new blank sheet in front of her, a paper planner at her side, and a pad of sticky notes next to her keyboard. "Send her in."

[deezcastforms]

Chiaki Nanami had not been expecting to be sent straight to the LAW CFO for a meeting when she expressed interest in becoming a streaming partner with LAW. She took this as a sign for how seriously the company was taking there venture into the world of wrestling livestreaming and Twitch. Chiaki liked this, as seeing LAW take her craft seriously gave the streamer a sense of comfort for the coming meeting.

Chiaki

Chiaki was sent into the corner by Tobiko's secretary, and the gamer girl promptly made her way in, greeting the greenette with a bow, "Greetings Ms. Tadashi. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me and hear my request." Chiaki then took the seat left for her at the table that sat opposite Tobiko to begin the meeting.

"So what I'm looking for a streaming partnership with LAW similar to what Allison Lee, or Allie-san as she's known in LAW and on Twitch, has," Chiaki said, wasting no time getting into what the two women were here for. "As I'm sure you're aware, we worked and fought together for the inaugural LAW Twitch streamed match on the back of her partnership, and the more I learned about this partnership from Allie and the event as a whole, the more I became interested in having a partnership myself."

"What intrigued me most was how the partnership alters how Twitch Terms of Service affects the partnered streamer," explained Chiaki. "From what I understand, this works by LAW paying off Twitch to allow partnered streamers to bypass suggestive and violent wrestling related content that would otherwise violate TOS, the streamer then reaps increased traffic and revenue from making use of these advantages, and then LAW recoups what they payed Twitch plus a little extra off the top for profit from the streamer's revenue. So as long as the extra stream income is enough to cover LAW's cut, everybody comes out ahead. My fans have been asking me for wrestling content ever since I joined LAW, and I've personally wanted to be able to do stuff with my tag partner and some of my other friends since I've come to know more and more people in this organization."

[FreestylePoet]

Tobiko clicked her pen. As Chiaki made her pitch, she took dutiful notes. Every so often, her hand would flick over to the margins of the page, and she'd scratch a few numbers here, a few dashes there. The sideboard math problem wouldn't finish, though, not before Chiaki made another interesting point. And so she would go back and forth between evaluating Chiaki's pitch and running the numbers in her head.

Finally, the streamer finished. And Tobiko clicked her pen again.

She looked up. "I'm familiar with Ms. Lee's work, yes." Hopefully the sigh in her voice wasn't too noticeable. Jeffrey was everywhere these days, and his daughter's placement in LAW's employ was an everyday reminder of that. "She's quite good, and so are you, from what I've seen..." She propped up a smile. "My son's tuned into your streams every now and again. And I keep tabs on the talent here from time to time..."

Finally, a sigh, to disabuse Chiaki of the notion that this would be an easy sell. "Still, I have some questions. First... Why is it necessary that you stream this content on Twitch?" She flipped to another page in her notes. "I know streamers aren't exactly the same as other influencers or content creators, but a number of creatives on LAW have had success on other platforms. Both adult-oriented and not. Many even produce content on multiple platforms at once, which makes sense to me if different pieces of media appeal to different... tastes." Tobiko gestured towards Chiaki. "We can think about how best to partner with you for LAW-related content, but I'm sure you understand that if we can do it at a lower cost, we'd like to."

[deezcastforms]

Chiaki's pitch got a mixed response, as Tobiko seemed interested, yet unconvinced. That was fine though, all that meant was that the persuasion check wasn't over yet. "While I obviously don't have access to detailed LAW financials, I'm under the impression that despite the higher costs compared to other platforms, both the partnership with Allie-san as well as my match with her have acted as precedents of profitable ventures into Twitch," explained Chiaki. "So it seems logical to me that LAW would be interested in expanding it's foothold in Twitch, though again, I haven't seen the numbers that would be influencing your decision making."

"As for your questions about other platforms and multi platform streaming, I have my reasons there as well," Chiaki continued. "Firstly, Twitch has recent changed its Terms of Service so that even moderately sized creators, a level I well clear the bar for, who stream on Twitch aren't allowed to stream on other platforms, so I'd have to choose between posting content on YouTube, Kick, and any other smaller platforms, of interest, or continuing to stream exclusively on Twitch."

"As I'm sure you can tell, it is my preference to remain on Twitch rather than leave to branch out into other platforms," Chiaki said. "It's where I've spent my entire career, and where I've already built up my viewer base." Realizing that may need some more elaboration, Chiaki continued. "You might think that if I moved, my viewer would just move with me, but the Internet can be a weird place. I love it, but there are definitely weird people who made weird decisions for weird reasons there. I stay on Twitch because I think it's simply the best site to stream on, but from a financial perspective, I can speak from seeing fellow streamers who've switched that their will be a noticeable drop in viewers and revenue in the immediate aftermath of a switch, that will take a gradual climb back up to recover from and grow past."

[FreestylePoet]

It was a basic question, but Tobiko was nonetheless pleased by how the younger girl answered it. Nanami was clever, and she was prepared. Most importantly, she was right. Migrating to a new platform was fraught with risk; few short of the biggest streamers could make it work. If Chiaki had agreed to such an idea, Tobiko likely would have dismissed her out of hand. "I see," she said simply. No need to show more than she needed to. "The idea makes sense from that perspective. I think we should talk about value, next."

Her lips curled into a smile. Wry in acknowledgement. "I apologize for the ugly phrasing. Our talent are obviously more than a line item on our revenue sheets." Or so DeFranco believed, anyway. "But it gets the point across, I hope. LAW is a business, first and foremost. I'm sure you've noticed we take appreciably more risks than many other wrestling promotions, especially when it comes to how we select and manage our talent. We didn't get to where we are today by making those risks at random." She clicked her pen. "This is a risk. I'd like to ask about the reward."

Tobiko's mouse and keyboard became blurs as she pulled up a handful of spreadsheets and dragged each to a corner of her monitor. "Your numbers are impressive. Both as a wrestler, as well as a content creator." She turned back to Chiaki, glasses gleaming with skepticism. "But that might suggest the status quo is working. Upsetting the apple cart, so to speak, might also be a risk. It may be that only your core users are asking for more LAW content. The hundreds of... lurkers, I believe they are called? They may have a different opinion. That's just one way things could go wrong, of course."

"So, I'd like to ask: What's your plan? What will you do differently to make the most of this sort of opportunity?"

[deezcastforms]

Chiaki understood the grittier details of what Tobiko was talking about. At a corporate level, the executive personnel did have to look at the numbers as much as if not more so than they looked at the people. Doing so in a business sim game was easy, because the people in question were just code. But real life made managing that balance far more difficult.

Chiaki also nodded along with Tobiko's explanation of how LAW was a very risk welcoming company, but that as a result, people like the CFO currently speaking had to make sure that there could be a significant measure of confidence before they started investing money into the various ventures and ideas that were put in front of them.

Out of respect for all the hassle that Chiaki knew that people like Tobiko had to go through, the streamer made sure that she was ready for the type of question that the greenette posed next. "Thank you for the praise, and I'm happy to say that I had already taken that concern into account myself," Chiaki said. "Beforehand, I held polls on three different streams at three different times of days, to account for viewers across different time zones, on how they would feel about me making wrestled based content a fixture on my channel."

"The results of those polls came out to an average of slightly under 80% of responses being for it," said Chiaki. "I will say that those votes came with the prerequisite of me explaining that wrestling wouldn't take over my channel entirely, which is also a point that I know needs to be brought up with you as well. I don't know the details of the partnership with Allie-san, but she is a wrestling streamer before anything else, and I assume her deal is based on that fact. I still want to be a gaming streamer first and foremost, with wrestling content being an additional thing that I do as supplementary content," the gamer girl said. "I explained to my fans that wrestling content would be featured once every few streams, or as a fun extra bit of content at the end of a larger gaming stream, or as something done as a sub goal. And that is a structure that I both want and intend to stick to if this partnership goes through. I really enjoy wrestling, but I don't want it to completely take over what I do. I'm sorry if that's a deal breaker, that I'm unwilling to fully commit my channel to wrestling, but just because I feel that way doesn't mean that I don't want to try to find a way to work around it so that we can still make something happen."

[FreestylePoet]

Negotiation was quite like a fight, at least based on what she'd heard in her years in this business. Strategic positioning was not to be confused with caution or cowardice. Sometimes, discovering a foe's weakness took time. Chiaki Nanami's, it seemed, was her trust. Trust was important in negotiation, arguably more so than any savvy on the part of an individual. However, people were more inclined to agree to something if they found the other party agreeable.

Tobiko had tested the waters with making Chiaki see her as such. Now was the time to press that advantage. "Very fair," she nodded. "I'm sure you understand that the numbers on one end -- in this case, your 'hours' of wrestling content -- change the numbers on the other. Namely, the revenue you stand to gain. I should warn you that you'll need to need to clear a certain level to meet a positive ROI, as licensing for certain LAW creative products, such as match footage, graphics, and logos, must be purchased via a flat fee." Tobiko waved her hand. "Copyright law. I'm sure you've run into it. More importantly, I'm sure you've factored it in. Besides, the mathematical particulars ought to be discussed once we have something in principle, don't you think?" She plastered on a smile. Transparency, flattery, all useful but tiring. "After all, the bottom line is this:"

Tobiko steepled her fingers. "We want to retain you. Not just as a wrestler, but as a key piece of our expansion into alternative media markets." That, at least was true. A necessary bedrock for persuasive liberties. "So. Let's begin with what LAW can offer you. First..." She took a breath. In, then out. Then, she whipped out a paper and began to scribble bullet points. "We are open to entering the aforementioned deal with Twitch, to allow you to stream a certain level of physical violence, as well as slightly risque content. We may be able to provide you a limited amount of creative and technical support, but I'll have to check on our capacity. We're also open to restreaming or hosting your content on other LAW media platforms -- unless you would prefer to keep it contained."

"Additionally, we will not impose any direct content controls in our contract. We want you to be you; it would be... unwise of us to ask you to change who you are as a creator. Any additional streaming-related obligations for events, pay-per-views, fan outlets, and the like will be negotiated as they come up. These will be separate but largely similar to how you currently contract for LAW events, absent the streaming element. Hopefully, that stresses to you that these will be voluntary."

"I recognize that this is not a complete deal, but part of a framework. Still." Tobiko flipped around that piece of paper so that Chiaki could see the notes thus far. "What do you think?"

[deezcastforms]

"Of course, that makes sense," Chiaki said in response to Tobiko explaining how the numbers on the streamer's own end would impact the numbers on LAW's end. Chiaki also chuckled a bit in understanding when the CFO mentioned copyright, "Yeah, definitely. copyright has annoyed me more than a few times over the years."

"I'm glad to hear you think so highly of me," Chiaki said when she heard what Tobiko said LAW wanted with her. "Hmm, I can handle the creative and technical, I think," she said. "I don't imagine the technical side would need to be much different from what I already have, maybe some tracking technology for the cameras since the movement would naturally be more frenetic and prone to moving out of focus compared to me being relatively still while the action happens in a game. But I know I can source things easily enough from the creative side."

"Having extra broadcasts of my wrestling content on LAW centric channels sounds like a good idea," said Chiaki. She smiled when Tobiko mentioned not imposing direct control, "Yeah, I really appreciate that." Chiaki nodded along with the CFO's mention of other events. "I probably will do some of those. it should be interesting, I think."

Chiaki looked at the paper Tobiko put in front of her, containing notes about what they had just gone over previously, things that Chiaki had already voiced as agreeable. "Looks like we have a good concept," she said. Things were going quite smoothly, but Chiaki knew that they were still at the easy part. Concepts could be as agreeable as the supporting cast in a power fantasy game, but that could all come crashing down when the numbers, the things that turned concept into reality, starting getting thrown around in a way that somebody didn't like. Chiaki was optimistic, Tobiko seemed passionate and willing to accommodate to get this done, but the gamer girl's guard still wasn't coming down until ink was put to paper.

[FreestylePoet]

A core rule of business was that negotiation rested on compromise. It was easier to find common ground if all parties found the middle path acceptable... But Tobiko was never one for the easy way of things. Sure, she gave concessions away for free, but they were exactly what Tobiki wanted their terms to be. These were simply the smartest business decisions to ensure this affiliate stream was a success; still, they no doubt seemed a kindness to Chiaki, allowing Tobiko a win at no cost.

Earned goodwill could then be spent, all while keeping the "favorable" terms intact for the other party. Tobiko smiled at Chiaki, more a sheepish cringe than anything. "Ah," she said. "I'll have to step out for a moment to get an official contract drawn up. I hope the delay won't be too long -- Legal doesn't even let me near their precious documents. Something about compliance. Still, with how fast-moving things in this business are... I'm sure I'll be able to find someone to jot our terms down." That, at least, was the truth. With how often professional wrestling flew by the seat of its pants, it was necessary to have skilled legal minds who could weave words into binding language at the snap of a finger.

"You can have time to review it with any counsel you have, of course, but we need to get the language on paper before we haggle over it, hmm?" She stood up, then walked a few steps. "Ah, before I go: Do you drink?" She drew her finger across the rim of a shining silver tray, which rested on an endtable along one wall. Upon it laid expensive bottles of gin, whiskey, and champagne, along with a set of pristine glasses and an ice bucket. Another kindness at no cost; "I have seltzers hidden away somewhere as well, if you're in the mood for a more sober affair."

[deezcastforms]

"Hm, I surprised that they can even keep the CFO out," Chiaki said when Tobiko spoke about her struggles with the legal department. "Though if anyone besides the CEO would have that kind of power, it would be the lawyers, I think. But as long as you can still get the paperwork set up, it'll all be fine."

It was at that point that Tobiko offered Chiaki an array of alcoholic beverages provided on the house. The gamer girl had an excellent poker face, so it didn't show, but this was the first moment when Chiaki shifted from on her guard to high alert. Tobiko was trying to get her drunk right before they were going to start talking numbers and potentially put pen to paper.

"I don't drink, so I'll have a seltzer, thank you," said Chiaki. She truly didn't drink, so she wouldn't be partaking even if the red flag hadn't been raised. But the streamer was still shifting more into a versus mindset rather than a competitive one. Tobiko's actions had a logic to them; breaking out the big guns alongside the big numbers to try to influence Chiaki's negotiating. But she knew how to handle herself, and wouldn't let the CFO get her that easily.