First, streaming music was all the rage. Social networking sites were packed with widgets from companies like imeem and SNOCAP, which for the first time allowed users to share music from the comfort of their profiles. Popular artists were obviously the first to benefit, but first-timers quickly capitalized on the trend. Word travels fast online, and before long, millions of MySpace users were listening to the likes of previous unknowns such as Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen.
Today, streaming video is already working to create new stars. YouTube—through its main site and embedded video widgets throughout the web—is launching a fair share of 15-minute-famers: everyone from Soulja Boy to the “Leave Britney Alone” kid, Chris Crocker, who signed for his own TV show last week. MySpace is investing big money in building up interactive web shows like “Quarterlife”, hoping to ride the growing wave of viewers flocking from TV to online.
But with so much of the web going “live”, why shouldn’t video follow? Justin Kan, who broadcasts his life 24/7 on his site, Justin.tv, shows that the model works. And now live video sites like UStream and Kyte—once limited to their own niche sites—are becoming mainstream. Earlier this month, BlogTV released a Facebook application that allows users to create and view live video feeds on their profiles. A variety of personalities—everyone from an amateur DJ and aspiring female vocalist—quickly attracted hundreds of eyeballs within days of the application’s launch. And as if “Quarterlife” wasn’t cool enough, UStream’s new show “35″—a 10-part series about an unwelcome house guest—is already being filmed and broadcast live on Sundays at 9.
While recorded content will undoubtedly remain popular, the combination of live video and widgets brings up-to-the-minute, easy access that web users have grown used to. Widgets already reach over 40% of North American users—or 81 million consumers—according to an April report by comScore. So it’s no surprise that companies are taking advantage of all this new content and established methods of delivering and sharing it. Video blogging startup YourTrumanShow announced plans on Monday for a new widget that provides access to its aggregated timeline of videos, searchable by topic, person, whatever. YourTrumanShow’s mission: to create a network of “tomorrow’s online reality stars, migrating user-generated content from single videos to multi-episode series.”
Whether it’s live, recorded, on a website, on a widget, on a timeline – you name it – new stars are being born as online video follows in music’s footsteps, realizing dreams for some, and a lot of fun for everyone else watching.
Related on NGT: Lifecasting
1 response so far ↓
1 shel israel // Sep 30, 2007 at 4:03 pm
David,
Thanks for the kind mention of YourTrumanShow, which launched the VideoMap widget at DEMO. Just fr the record, YTS is not a live casting site. It is a video blogging site.
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