Bambuser, Swedish live video streaming service, keeps climbing the online social video ladder by announcing Facebook Fan Page integration. Fan Page integration has been one of the most requested features on Bambuser since enabling broadcasting live directly on Facebook Wall feed for three months ago.
The fact that the service, including Facebook Fan Page integration, is free to consumers and non profit organisations as well as ad free, makes this launch very interesting, thus challenging giants like Justin.tv and Ustream. It was only recently UStream launched its Facebook integration, for time being offered free in an add supported version only to brands, artists and partners – on request. To my knowledge no other service supports live broadcasting including commenting directly on Facebook Wall or Fan Page feed.
What’s neat about Bambuser’s solution is that the broadcast is pushed directly on the Wall and Fan Page feed, no additional clicking on tabs or boxes needed. The Facebook integration is easily done in Bambuser Settings via Facebook Connect by just filling in the Page URL.
The service has today users in over 150 countries supporting live broadcasting from over 200 different mobile devices, as well as from desktop browsers. The Facebook Wall integration in October significantly increased the number of channels created per week, having Facebook now counting for approx. 30% of all the videos viewed on Bambuser. In a tight iPhone race with UStream and Qik Bambuser managed to get their iPhone application approved just before Christmas. The iPhone app immediately made it to top ten downloads in the Swedish App Store, iPhone the most used mobile device for Bambuser, and doubbled the number of channels created per week to 6 000.
Enabling easy sharing across social networks is very powerful, which Justin.tv has also come to experience. It reported 68 percent increase of traffic and doubble the number of links shared since it started using the Meebo tool bar last summer.
With Fan Page integration Bambuser is now able to expand its offer to 1.6 million active Facebook Pages, of which 700,000 are active Pages for local businesses. This will not only going to play an important part for the future growth of Bambuser, but also for the use of social online video as a communication tool for businesses and brands, as Facebook is becoming the premier destination for marketers both in the U.S. and many worldwide markets with its 350 million users.
Facebook reaches currently one third of the population, over 3 million people, in Sweden, establishing it as an important communication channel. With the upcoming Swedish general election this fall, I’m curious to see how the political parties are to utilize online video and Bambuser in Facebook.
Paula is online strategist and startup evangelist. She blogs at paulamarttila.com and here at Bub.blicio.us.
Follow her on Twitter: @paulamarttila
Drop her email at paula.marttila[at]gmail[dot]com
Football is back! With the second week of the 2009 NFL season wrapping up there aren’t a lot of legitimate choices out there for catching a game on online. Sure you can do a quick internet search and find plenty of sites proclaiming live streaming of NFL games but these sites are sketchy at best with most games going “offline” rather quickly (have to think the NFL is out in force on game day). I do have to give kudos to NBC for bringing their Sunday Night Football games to the online world for free.
With cable and satellite TV costs skyrocketing and many people opting to cut this luxury from their dwindling budgets, the average fan looking to get their NFL fix is stuck. Last season NBC started airing their Sunday night games and continued the trend this season. I just wish the NFL would add to the mix some more games. Granted, it would be incredible to catch every single game online for free, but I understand this could definitely undermine the potential revenue stream of the league.
This is where NBC is the real winner. With one prime-time game a week, NBC is creating a great opportunity to brand itself and create a solid fan base. Heck, throw commercials my way! Give me a game for free and I’ll watch a two-minute video, I’ll even pay attention to the commercials you air on the broadcast network! You are giving me the opportunity to watch an exciting game, offer an HD experience with DVR-type controls (major plays are even tagged along the video time line, if you miss one with a simple click you are taken to that key play and with a click of a button can return to the live action!), plus as a bonus the opportunity to view the game from other camera angles during the action.
Television networks are coming along slowly but surely with the online experience. Just looking at the success of sites like Hulu will show there is a hungry audience online. We aren’t rogue “kill your television” consumer out here. For whatever reason we have made the choice to consume content online and still have great loyalty to our favorite shows, maybe even more than the average couch-bound channel surfer.
It seems that the typical way to give consumers online content is either in a delay-based, on-demand format or making it a premium. I don’t think this approach will necessarily work well in the long term. Advertising is the major way TV stations make their money and having the ability for local affiliates to sell advertising locally is key. How about having to enter in your ZIP code when you watch online content? This way you can feed localized advertising into the mix of your national advertisers making all parties happy.
I think the NFL would go a long way and find they are including more people by giving some things away. You don’t have to have every game on but by giving away an early and later game on each Sunday, you are exposing your brands and teams to a wider audience. NBC gets it and has proven this with its Sunday night games. More exposure brings more fans and more fans equates to more people coming through the gates, buying branded merchandise and giving your advertisers a captive audience. Hopefully more leagues will see the value in this and is just not “giving it away” with nothing in return.
I think it’s pretty clear that we here at bub.blicio.us like online video, but TurnHere is proving that video can do more for you (and your business) than you may know. Although, it is useful for covering topics like office style.
In just a year and a half, TurnHere has produced a whopping 20,000 videos for businesses in a range of industries including travel, publishing, local, and real estate. The company leverages its growing network of more than 8,000 professional filmmakers across more than 70 countries to create affordable Internet videos.
Many small businesses are turning to online video to stand out with customers. With its measurable ability to build trust and create consumer action, video is one of the best (and most affordable) ways to meaningfully engage with potential and current customers.
In fact, Kelsey Group research shows of people who viewed a video online:
•55% visited the company’s web site
•30% visited the physical store
•24% made a purchase
So, to celebrate their milestone, TurnHere has launched the “Fall in Love With Video” sweepstakes. If you have a small business – pay attention!
Here’s how it works:
The campaign started August 31 and runs until September 25. Each week, TurnHere randomly selects 100 winners to receive a free custom video profile of their business shot onsite and produced by one of TurnHere’s professional filmmakers.
Additionally, one winner each week will receive a $1,000 “Stimulus Package” giftcard to a leading retailer such as Costco, Best Buy, Staples, and Walmart.
Disclosure: In addition to being a contributor to bub.blicio.us, I also work at FutureWorks where one of my clients is TurnHere, but that doesn’t make this contest any less cool.
Taking a page from Google’s playbook, Hulu today launched Hulu Labs. According to Hulu, the Labs are “a place to try out experimental projects … and share your feedback while they’re still in development.”
It’s a great idea, and they started big.
Hulu Desktop: Hulu has taken video viewing out of the browser and onto the desktop. With native applications built for Mac and for PC, you can now use Windows Media Center remote controls or Apple remote controls, allowing you to navigate Hulu’s entire library with just six buttons. It’s also handy without the remote controls. I’ve had various episodes of Kitchen Confidential playing in the background on my machine all day. Download
Video Panel Designer: Now when you embed a Hulu clip into your site, you can customize its appearance.
Recommendations: Hulu has now added recommendations based on shows you’ve watched and rated. You need to have a Hulu account to have recommendations, but they’re pretty accurate. Based on my love of quirky sitcoms, Hulu recommended 30 Rock.
Time-Based Browsing: I think this is the best of the new experimental features. You can now quickly scan videos grouped by original air date. As Hulu puts it, “whether you’re a TV junkie who remembers shows by the day of week they air, a budding media anthropologist curious to study TV’s evolution across the decades, or just a user in search of timely news clips, time-based browsing is another way to easily find more videos on Hulu.”
Hulu, home of NBC and Fox shows, has a new partner. Disney has joined the online video service, and brought ABC along with it. The Big 3 now each own 27% of Hulu, according to TechCrunch.
While I’m thrilled that Hannah Montana and Kim Possible will soon find their way to Hulu, I have to wonder – where is CBS? When I want to watch two of my favorite shows online – CSI and How I met Your Mother – I still have to do it through the limited and annoying CBS.com site. I have to wonder what is keeping them? After all, everyone is finding a way to put their content online in an easily accessible manner. Last week, Sony announced a partnership with YouTube to distribute limited, ad-supported content. So, come on CBS!
Hulu is the #3 video site right now, although it is quickly gaining on #2 Fox Video and #1 YouTube. Many writers are calling for YouTube to either get some real content or get out of the way. Meanwhile, I’d rather speculate on the future of Hulu. With its star rising fast and content seeking out the site, I have to wonder if a premium or subscription model isn’t in the future. What about pay-cable shows? Would you pay a fee to see premium content from channels like HBO or Showtime? You can take that further and ask, what would that do to cable TV?
I don’t how far in the future we’ll be using our laptops for televised entertainment all the time instead of the behemoth monitors in our living rooms. I do know that the time people spent watching TV online jumped 40% in one year and stands to grow even faster as more content becomes available. What do you think?
What’s neat about Bambuser’s solution is that the broadcast is pushed directly on the Wall and Fan Page feed, no additional clicking on tabs or boxes needed. The Facebook integration is easily done in Bambuser Settings via Facebook Connect by just filling in the Page URL.
