What does General Wesley Clark know about live Web video? Apparently enough to land him a seat on Ustream.TV’s board of advisors. Or maybe they just liked his shiny medals. The company also announced a funding round today from Band of Angels and Western Technology Investors, which specializes in debt financing for startups. The amount was not disclosed.
Ustream.TV is a site for live Web video broadcasting that launched last March. It claims 115,000 people have used the service, “broadcasting one million unique viewer hours per month,” whatever that means. (How do you broadcast a “unique viewer hour”?) Anyway, that comes to about 5,000 hours of video a day, attracting a few hundred thousand viewers. Most of the broadcasters are regular consumers, but the site has also been used by presidential candidates, and the Plain White Ts rock band to broadcast a live concert that was watched by 150,000 fans online.
However much money it raised, Ustream will need it to compete in an already crowded field that includes Justin.TV, Stickam, Blog.tv, and Mogulus.
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http://www.centernetworks.com/.....nd-funding
It’s a smart move for Ustream as we move into heavy political season.
I really prefer mogulus
Really! What does Wesley Clark know about online video? I guess if you’re a household name you can put (sell) your name to just about anything now, right?
With 5 companies competing for essentially the same space, it looks like it’s time for some consolidation. Perhaps it’s time for Google to come in and buy up a few of these companies?
Yikes! Anyone who has served with Clark knows he is an idiot of a commander. This was not a smart decision.
Why did they do that?
I love ustream, my ustream channel
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/barbies-buzz
I am on there from time to time.
If they consider political campaigns to be a core customer then it’s moot if Wes Clark knows about online video.
Wes Clark gets his calls returned by everyone running for president. It’s nice to see potential customers on an advisory board.
Why techcrunch only takes live web TV broadcast solution from the US?
In Europe, we have Netineo, Selfcast etc.
What’s worthy to mention is that the company named Netineo has developed a solution with four main features that no others can compete with:
1. A control room software to record programs & broadcast them live
2. Simulcast using video sharing sites (patent pending)
3. DIY channels and TV Guide (EPG)
4. HD quality and secured architecture
Ustream has really kicked butt in the political world, so the Clark advisory position makes sense.
We love Ustream!
The Mitt Romney Faith In America stream on Ustream was great and the Obama/Oprah rally was interesting.
They seem to really be picking up steam. Kudos to Ustream
@MIN: Love that netineo i just check it out, i might even write about it on my blog first let me explore it.
Ustream.tv is a great platform and going to evolve. All the names mentioned above will do well. there is room for a bunch of names. together, they will force people to produce much better UGC.
in the future you should be able to check out all of their live schedules on NowHound. the home for live content on the web
http://www.nowhound.com
There is also broadcaster.com that never gets mentioned. How come?
Hmm, maybe there’s a military connection - say streaming video contact for personnel abroad - I guess the US military would have some juicy video data contracts?
i think Ustream was founded by military people out of that exact need
@alan
I agree. Not sure why there can’t be more than one winner in this space. They all are kinda taking on their own styles: Justin (lifecasting), Mogulus (Tv station), Ustream (Easy Broadcasting).
Best of luck to Ustream.
Watch out for Wes, the cash may vanish!
fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Meebo + Bebo + this announcement = WOW! These guys are rollin’ ….