All of which means that Hollywood, network TV and the cable companies have no choice if they want to keep viewers from turning to the pirates: Give them easy access to whatever they want, whenever they want it.
There are two sites that I know of that are live streaming the Obama Inauguration: Hulu.com and C-SPAN.org. Naturally, I’ve been trying them both, but with limited success, at least as far as C-SPAN is concerned.
I guess it makes sense that the site with a commercial interest would have a much better experience, but I wish C-SPAN would have made their coverage more accessible. Also, it took about 10 attempts before the C-SPAN coverage actually started streaming as I’m sure their servers are overloaded by the influx of traffic, whereas Hulu started right up and made it very easy to find their coverage. The only (minor) complaint I have is that they are airing Fox News coverage.
Overall, Hulu has a much better experience for live streaming. The coverage was easy to find, it started right up (after one 30 second commercial) and there have been zero interruptions in the stream. And, as a bonus, I can embed the experience from Hulu on my own blog, if I so choose.
Update: Hulu got buggy right before Obama was sworn in so I switched over to www.pic2009.org, which uses Microsoft Silverlight, and the experience is great so far.
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Internet users viewed 12.7 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 34 percent versus year ago.
A comedy group out of Chicago, The Vacationeers, made this hilarious, and all too true video. Google seems to consistently toe the line between being useful and overly knowing / creepy. That’s very interesting for a company who’s moto is, “Do no evil.”
The questionnaire contained information about the network’s plans to “offer online streaming of programming free for people who subscribe to HBO through their cable provider.
Not that Netflix, Apple, Blockbuster, or Amazon have Internet distribution figured out, but I’m not sure what the auteurs website is uniquely bringing to the party. Here’s what their website says:
The Auteurs is Berlin, Cannes, Toronto, and Venice - 365 days a year. It’s an online movie theater where you watch, discover, and discuss films. Fall in love all over again with the movies, and meet other people who feel just the same way. Great films, original editorial coverage, and a community of the most interested and interesting film fans in the world - all waiting for you.
Think of it as a virtual cinematheque: a place where you leave the dark of the screening room, and find yourself amongst friends.
I guess they are going after cinephiles, but 1. I don’t think that’s a large enough market, and 2. they will never have enough movies to offer to satisfy a cinephile.
Perhaps their market is burgeoning cinephiles?
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Jamie Spencer, executive director at Magid Media Labs, said his research firm has found evidence showing that increased consumption of online video leads to more consumption of broadcast — and vice versa. If a person watches an episode of CSI online, they’re more likely to also tune in to the show when it’s on TV, he said. Conversely, if a person spends a lot of time randomly checking out the latest hot video clips on YouTube, they’ll tend to spend less time on the sofa flipping through channels.
About 30 percent of Xbox 360 owners are paying for video monthly, noted Scherf. The device has become a Trojan horse of sorts: Consumers who bought it for one purpose are finding an additional use for it.
The hype about Hulu potentially coming out of private beta and going public (in my opinion) is really misplaced hyped for Internet Video. And even the hype for Internet Video is somewhat over-blown as the content and viewing experience are still sub-par. Until we can watch video in comfort and have a lot of choices it will be nascent with roughly 15-20% of HH’s watching on a regular basis.
