The deadline is fast approaching to vote for your favorite product or service in this year's Streaming Media's Readers' Choice Awards, the only awards program in our industry that lets end users decide what online video products and services they find the most valuable. Last year, more than 3,800 readers voted in the Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards and with the growing online video market this year's awards program will be bigger and better, with even more categories. The nomination process is simple. Just go to http://www.streamingmedia.com/readerschoice/nominate.asp and complete and submit the nomination form before August 31, 2009. Streaming Media's editorial team will evaluate all submissions to make sure they fit their categories, and final nominees are announced on September 7th when online voting opens. The top 3 finalists in each category will be announced in November, and the winners receive their Award at Streaming Media West in San Jose, November 17-18.
The editorial staff of Streaming Media will evaluate all submissions to make sure they're proper fits for the categories, and the final nominees will be announced on September 7th. Winners of the awards will receive at at a special reception/party at this year's Streaming Media West show in San Jose, November 18th, which attendees of Streaming Media West and the Online Video Platform Summit are welcome to join. Don't miss the best Readers' Choice Awards rocking party following the award ceremony sponsored by Kaltura, with open bar and entertainment by video remixing legends Eclectic Method which you can see in the video below.
Nominations can be made in the following categories:
- Best Streaming Innovation 2009 - The first of two industry-wide categories, designed to acknowledge the product, technology, or service that most changed the streaming landscape in the past year.
- Best Online Video Startup Company 2009 - Content
- Best Online Video Startup Company 2009 - Technology
- Another industry-wide category, designed to highlight the new companies that made the biggest splash and is poised for long-term success -- one company focused on content and another focused on technology.
- Encoding Software (Under $1,000)
- Encoding Software (Over $1,000)- It doesn't seem fair to pit enterprise-grade encoding solutions against single-workstation software, so in this year's awards we're breaking down encoding software into these two categories.
- Enterprise Video Platform - Solutions that offer complete control over creating, publishing, managing, and distributing content within the Enterprise environment.
- Hardware Encoder (HD)
- Hardware Encoder (SD) - As with encoding software, it made sense to split this category into two this year, for hardware devices that capture and encode content in HD/SD and in SD only.
- Live Video Streaming Platform - Platforms that allow users to easily stream live video over the web from a wide range of devices from mobile phones and webcams up through DV cameras.
- Global CDN - Content delivery networks with truly global reach
- Online Video Platform (Free)
- Online Video Platform (Premium) - White-label or branded video publishing platforms, again separated into two subcategories: the free, consumer and prosumer-level platforms and the premium platforms used by SMB, enterprise, and entertainment organizations.
- Portable Live Encoding Appliance - Hardware devices designed specifically for capturing, encoding, and outputting live video from the field and on-the-go.
- Regional (North American) Delivery Network - Content Delivery Networks with a footprint that's confined to the U.S and Canada
- Reporting and Analytics Solution - Solutions for delivering video viewership and/or network status reporting and analytics, whether standalone or as part of a larger offering
- Search and Indexing Platform - Solutions that utilize metadata, speech/facial recognition, or other methods to help users easily find the video they're looking for
- Server Hardware/Software - Solutions for delivering audio and video files to listeners and viewers, regardless of delivery protocol
- Streaming Music Solution - Internet radio and other music streaming services
- Transcoding SaaS - Cloud-based transcoding services
- Video Advertising Network - Companies that help brands execute video campaigns via online publishers
- Video Advertising Management Platform - Platforms that perform ad insertion and offer pre-built placement options and success tracking
- Webcasting/Presentation Solution - Services or products that capture video and audio, combine with slides and images, and deliver to online viewers in an interactive environment, live and/or on demand.
