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May 24, 2007
blogTV: A platform for Broadband Broadcasting
Earlier this year I met with members of the blogTV team when I was in Tel Aviv and I was very impressed with their vision, what they had accomplished to date and their overall approach to the marketplace.
While blogTV is very well known in Israel and launched this past March in Canada, they only recently launched their website, blogTV.com for the US marketplace.
Now at a first glance, blogTV might appear to be a Ustream, but if anything, the reverse is true as BlogTV has been around longer than UStream.
As such, for broadband broadcasters, BlogTV has a number of advanced features which will resonate well with people who have been experimenting with live broadcasts on UStream. For example, one feature which I like with the ability to co-host live shows split a show with a friend and invites an audience member to co-host with me. Advanced users can tweak their system and use multiple cameras, add titles and animations capture their own screens and stream live music. In their next versions they will focus on helping broadcasters do better content and get more viewers.
And while blogTV is interesting as a stand alone offer to broadband broadcasters, once you learn that in Israel, the video created on BlogTV is available for viewing on 3G video phones, all of a sudden, the blogTV platform takes on another role. In no uncertain terms, blogTV has been a major catalyst in taking user generated video content and has empowered a generation of 3G video phone users to be able to take advantage of this viewing experience. It will be just a matter of time before a US mobile carrier approaches BlogTV and expresses an interest to add their user generated video content into their network.
Just to put the BlogTV experience into perspective, at the moment, in Israel, blogTV has about 400 daily broadcasters and it is a part of the Tapuz.co.il portal. Since their initial launch, more then a million Israeli users have watched blogTV. In Israel, blogTV got major attention from the media and they partnered with a TV channel and made a LIVE blogTV show on TV with celebrities hosting it from their homes and inviting co-hosts in real time to broadcast with them in their homes. I understand it was a pretty amazing experience.
blogTV is one of the companies on my watch list that I am looking forward to catching up with when I am in Tel Aviv the week of June 3rd. I expect that in the near future, blogTV will no longer be a secret to anyone who is interested and/or involved in broadband broadcasting in the United States and around the world.
Tags: Internet TV, ustream.tv, blogTV, Jeff Pulver
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Posted by jeff on May 24, 2007 12:02 AM | Permalink
Additional resources: Watch PrimeTime TV Shows | Watch the Jeff Pulver Show | Jeff's Qik Videos
Comments
Segmenting their channels by country will be their undoing. Jeff's audience is global but only Americans can view his videocasts on BlogTV, for example.
That's a stupid design but it's clear that their business model is to find national launch partners in each country, in order to funnel funds back to the mothership in Israel.
Smart, but it's a short-term cash grab coming at the expense of a long-term network growth opportunity.
Posted by: Ian Andrew Bell at July 3, 2007 07:28 PM
I was at the launch party in Canada. I talked to them at length about their product. I had several concerns. Their reponse to each inquiry was to call them later. My biggest concern was that viewers of a broadcast had to register. Imagine having to register to watch Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. It's like that commercial where you have to do a credit check to buy a street dog.
Posted by: Randy Charles Morin at May 24, 2007 05:40 PM
I checked out BlogTv and I absolutely love their UI, really crisp and clean. But will it really work here?
I think the phone will ultimately answer that question. If it is as easy as making a phoone call and the quality is that good...Hurry U.S.A. get your phone system up to global standards!
Posted by: Jason White, CSCS at May 24, 2007 05:38 AM