Around the Net
YouTube Live is Live
- Fortune et al., Monday, September 13, 2010 1:40 PM
In a move with big implications for programmers of sports and other live events, YouTube has unveiled its live-streaming video service, YouTube Live.
"The one thing that the
Internet hasn't quite mastered yet, however, is live events like news and sporting events," writes
Fortune.
"YouTube has launched its grand live TV experiment and it works well, but what you see today is a far cry from what you'll see in the future," writes ZDNet. "In the future, you can see news networks utilizing YouTube and
potentially sports leagues."
"Sports and News are, in my mind, the last reason to keep a traditional TV in the house," writes Fortune's Seth Weintraub. "With YouTube
sucking up that content too, why keep the $100 cable TV plan?"
"The move comes as Google is facing increased competition from Facebook that, according to comScore, surpassed
Google as the online destination where users spend the most time," notes PCWorld. "YouTube is still king of video, by a long
shot."
Still, comScore recently announced the amount of time American audiences spent watching the major live video publishers grew by 648% in the last year. As a result, "The
advertising possibilities are also good, since the average live streamed video view is 7 percent longer than the average online video view, according to ComScore," notes The Associated Press.
"The news has been a long time coming," writes
TechCrunch. Way back in February 2008 YouTube cofounder Steve Chen said that live video was on its way, and that it was slated to launch late in 2008."
Adds TechCrunch: "This will put the service in direct competition with the likes of Ustream, Justin.tv, and Livestream."
