YouTube to Team Up with Ustream for Live Streaming Event and May or May Not Announce Its Own Live Service

The YouTube Live web cast is scheduled on November 22 and Silicon Alley Insider says there's been speculation that they will announce their own web casting service similar to Ustream, Stickam, Justin.tv, and Mogulus at the event. Nicholas Carson spoke to a YouTube company source who has seen mock ups of the user interface and said, "Of course something could go wrong and they might not launch it," and a YouTube spokesperson contradicted the claim saying, "We're working with a third party to live-stream our event called Live. We have no product to announce at this time."



YouTube Live - 11/22/08
From: Live
Description: YouTube Live! is, first and foremost, a celebration of the site's vast user communities; everyone from bedroom vloggers to world-famous rock stars, musicians, comedians, athletes, artists and more. Part concert, part variety show and part party, the event will bring to life many of the amazing videos and talent that YouTube viewers have already made popular on the site. The two-hour event will take place on November 22, 2008, in front of a live audience in San Francisco; an audience of millions will be able to experience a simultaneous live stream on the site."


MG Siegler says that VentureBeat has confirmed through an anonymous tipster that the third party is Ustream and he noted, "More interesting is the rumor that YouTube could use the event to launch a live-streaming service of its own. If that is true, it seems unlikely that YouTube would go to all the trouble of partnering with Ustream for the event if it’s just going to launch a product that directly competes Ustream at the event."

Siegler also thought that perhaps YouTube might announce a formal partnership with Ustream to handle the live streaming on YouTube. This may give some credence to what Steve Chen told Sarah Austin earlier in the year that YouTube was interested in getting into live streaming and that they hoped to launch something this year. However, in August of this year Michael Learmonth wrote in Silicon Alley Insider that a source from Google stated that if just 10% of YouTubers took advantage of live streaming it would significantly increase their bandwidth costs upwards of 20% to 25%. That's because live streaming clips tend to be much longer lasting several hours and include chat data.

Learmonth concluded that it didn't seem likely that YouTube would launch a live streaming service and said, "At some point, if one or more of the live streaming services truly takes off, Google will be faced with a build vs. buy decision, but that won't happen for at least another year or two. Getting in early here doesn't seem to be a huge advantage: Yahoo launched a service in February, but its most popular lifecasters frequently have an audience of less than 100 people."

While live streaming service Mogulus has been successful partnering with Gannett it's interesting to note that Yahoo just announced it would be discontinuing its live streaming service Yahoo Live! on December 3rd.

So with the YouTube Live event only 2 weeks away it will be interesting to see how this plays out and what else YouTube has planned. They are already distributing full-length TV shows like Star Trek, MacGyver and Beverly Hills 90120 in their new Theater View style and also featured the World Premiere of filmmaker Wayne Wang's "The Princess Of Nebraska" in the YouTube Screening Room.

According to CNET they've also announced that they will be offering features films from at least one major Hollywood studio as early as next month. Greg Sandoval said that a showdown between YouTube and Hulu was inevitable.

Update: Soon after I posted this news had spread that The New York Times confirmed that MGM is the will partner with YouTube to deliver full-length films.

Related:

• YouTube - Live's Channel
• Source: Google teaming with Ustream for YouTube Live event — long-term partnership to follow? » VentureBeat
• YouTube's Live! Party Is A Launch Event
• YouTube Not Getting Into Live Streaming, After All (GOOG)
• YouTube Live not just an event after all, but a live-streaming service? » VentureBeat
• YouTube - Screening Room
• Feature films coming to YouTube | Latest Digital Media News - CNET News
• Lights, camera, YouTube: Feature films coming to the world’s video portal? » VentureBeat
• Video: YouTube to get live video this year » VentureBeat
• Steve Chen: YouTube to Add Live Video « NewTeeVee
• MGM to Post Full Movies and TV Shows to YouTube - NYTimes.com

Video SEO Tips by TubeMogul's Mark Rotblat

This comes by way of the TubeMogul blog and features my friend Mark Roblat, VP of Marketing for Tubemogul, the free online video distribution and analytics company.

Mark Roberston of Reel SEO also featured this video and said, "Mark Rotblat provides some quick tips to for how to properly syndicate and distribute your online video content for maximum visibility and search engine indexing. The video interview was taken by Massimo Burgio for SMX London 2008. As you know by now, Tubemogul is an excellent distribution platform and web analytics service for video search marketing and viral video distribution."


Watch TubeMogul's Mark Rotblat Viral Video SEO Tips for SMX London in How to Videos | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Description: Massimo Burgio's secret weapon for viral video distribution is TubeMogul - Get some SEO tips and advise on how ... to optimize video distribution from TubeMogul's Mark Rotblat, interviewed from Massimo Burgio for SMX London 2008

Mark also spoke at Streaming Media West in September on my panel session Updating and Syndicating Your New Media Channels for Distribution.

Check out TubeMogul's Industry Analysis for their online video publishing research reports including “Web Video Marketing 101."

Adap.tv Empowers Publishers With New Capabilities to Serve Ads from Existing Display Ad Servers

Since they were founded in November 2006, Adap.tv has grown to become one of the leading innovators in the online video advertising space. Their unique platform Adap.tv Onesource "the first open and universal video ad platform" allows publishers and advertisers match contextually relevant ads to video content in a viewer friendly manner. In September, they raised $13 million B round funding led by Spark Capital, Redpoint and Gemini with their total funding to date now at $23 million. Last month they introduced a new preroll ad format that utilizes five-to-seven-second title cards that appear immediately before a video. "They can be static HTML ads, rich media ads or short video ads. With these pre-roll title cards, ad networks and brand marketers can turn standard 300x250 ad creative units into high impact, highly responsive video pre-rolls with no additional creative development. Website publishers benefit by earning pre-roll video-like CPM rates for a short seven second-maximum ad unit that most viewers easily accept." - from Adap.tv's New Ad Format Makes Video Advertising Better for Consumers, Website Publishers and Online Advertising Networks. Pre-roll Title Cards Bridge Gaps Between Standard Website Ads and Video Ads Adap.tv 10/07/08

Kelsey Blodget of Beet.TV interviewed Amir Ashkenazi, CEO of Adap.tv last week at the Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable about how they're empowering publishers to serve their own ads using Adap.tv Onesource. Announced on Monday, OneSource extends its capability to video by allowing publishers to serve ads from multiple existing sources like DoubleClick DART and Microsoft Atlas Ad Manager to its platform. In her post, Adap.tv Lets Publishers Serve Video Ads Through Display Ad Services, Blodget says, "By using an existing display ad servers for video, publishers don't have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new ad server to monetize video--a cost-saving measure especially important in our current economy, according to Ashkenazi."



"Our publishing partners have made significant investments in their display ad serving platforms," said Amir Ashkenazi, founder and CEO of Adap.tv. "Yet display ad servers are not designed to effectively serve and manage ads on video. Using Adap.tv OneSource, online publishers can now extend the functionality of leading display management systems such as DART and Atlas to meet the expanding needs of their business at a time when video is becoming a major component of revenue. Today's announcement is indicative of our commitment to helping publishers make the most of online video advertising by supporting multiple sources and formats, including their own ads, from premium ad networks, and through our backfill solution that includes over 50 global ad networks across many formats." - from Adap.tv Empowers Publishers to Serve Own Video Ads by Extending Capabilities of Existing Display Ad Servers - Adap.tv Press Release

Amir spoke at Streaming Media West in September on my panel session Online Video Publishing and Marketing Strategies.

About Adap.tv
Adap.tv is the creator of OneSource, the first platform to help publishers fully monetize their online video content. Based in San Mateo, CA, the company is privately held and is backed by Spark Capital, Redpoint Ventures and the Gemini Israeli Fund.

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YouTube to Stream Its First Ever Live Event

Here's some big news from YouTube that I got from an email the other day. "We wanted to let you know that November 22nd is the day to join your fellow YouTube fans online for a live streaming event that is part concert, part variety show and part party! Celebrate with YouTube live performances, celebrity guests, original videos, surprise collaborations and much more. Visit http://www.youtube.com/live for details and updates.

Expect to see Internet-born stars like Soulja Boy Tell'em, Esmee Denters (viewed more than 100 million times on YouTube), and "Canon Rock" virtuoso Funtwo dazzling the crowd, along with mainstream acts like Akon who has the #12 Most Viewed YouTube Video of all time. There will also be a global b-boy showcase featuring dancers from the movie Planet B-boy; Discovery Channel's MythBusters will add their signature style of explosive experimentation; that humble little instrument, the ukulele (itself a giant YouTube trend), taking center stage; and perhaps a free hug or two. The Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am, three-time Grammy Award winner and Emmy winner for his groundbreaking video "Yes We Can," will unveil a brand new awareness raising video consisting entirely of user generated videos. Just added acts, include Fred, Jon M. Chu and The League of Extraordinary Dancers, Brandon Hardesty, Joe Satriani, Ask a Ninja, Katers 17, and The Spinto Band.

In addition, the "Vlog Squad," a group of long-time YouTube community members, will offer exclusive, behind-the-scenes access from different areas of the venue; William Sledd, Michael Buckley (What the Buck), Lisa Nova, and Tay Zonday have already been named as part of this ace reporting team. Tay Zonday will also put his unique pipes to work as the announcer for the show and Mike Relm will serve as house video jockey. Subscribe to and visit the YouTube Live channel for more updates: http://www.youtube.com/live."

Here are a few videos from a few of the invitees who help explain this landmark event.

From: peron75
YouTube LIVE! Miley Vs Buck Vs Chu AGAIN?!
Please rate/comment/fave/subscribe! Yay!
http://www.youtube.com/live
For more information including who will be there! Make sure you subscribe and watch there for updates!! That is where you will watch LIVE on Nov 22!

From: charlestrippy
RickRolling Soulja Boy at YouTube Live!
So I was invited to the YouTube Live! event this Nov22! Yay, i'm totally going to RickRoll Soulja Boy (that bitch!)

Leave a comment, who else should I rick roll while i'm there?!

President-Elect Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech on UStream

The internet was on fire this evening as Barack Obama won the election to be the 44th President of the United States of America. His acceptance speech was streamed live on his UStream.tv channel and is embedded below.



Brad Hunstable, Founder had this to say on the Ustream.tv blog,"Tonight I sat back and watched with amazement one of our nation’s most sacred principles unfold live on Ustream. Over a million people followed the election on Ustream today- from small election parties, to passionate professional broadcasts.

Whether you agree or not, are red or blue, Democrat or Republican, history was made today and many experienced this through our humble service. Over the last 2 years, John, Gyula and I have had the opportunity to meet many people and see many things because of Ustream, but tonight, for me, was the most powerful."