Obama Inauguration: A Big Day for iTV Too

While Obama’s inauguration day was a day of many milestones in U.S. history, it was also a big day for web-internet-interactive-mobile television. Today's online video technology either didn't exist during the last inauguration or was in its infancy. Online video, the social Web, and mobile applications took center stage, as millions worldwide accessed and shared the inauguration experience and information online.

For online video specifically, a record number of Americans viewed the event at work, school, or at home. According to Akamai, a record 7.7 million viewers did so simultaneously, making it the most-watched live event in online video's history.

Outside of some expected capacity issues that excluded some users from accessing the stream optimally, the inauguration online was by most reports a success. Some long-time online video enthusiasts might remember an event almost exactly 10 years ago that did not go as well.

By the headline and sub-header, we surely have come a long way. For me, the web stream was moving even faster online than on cable TV!

I also downloaded the Ustream app for my iPhone the day before and thus was able to watch the inauguration while on the road. (No, I was NOT driving!) According to Ustream, over 100,000 users downloaded this application before the inauguration, making it the 6th most popular application in the iTunes store.




This certainly has the hallmarks of a major breakthrough in mobile and online video. I do expect live sporting events and the like to follow shortly, as sports fans, for a reasonable fee, sign up by the millions to watch their games whenever an wherever they want.


PS. I’m told, that if you had a Facebook account, you could log in via Facebook Connect while watching the CNN.com live stream.

Bebo for Open Media?

Bebo, a large social network that is especially opular in the UK, has launched a sevice dubbed "Open Media" for media companies (that's you and me too, if you create some spiffy videos) to deliver their content directly within the site.

Do you want "The Truth?" Looks like Bebo users do ... at least the U.K. media outfit by that name. I'm not surprised! Here is a VERY original piece from the, appropriately titled "Melting Moms." These people have social conscience.



They allow media companies to use their own video player technology to present videos to Bebo's millions of users, AND let them keep all the revenue from ads within their videos. COOL!

Open Media includes a recommendation feature that shows users what videos their friends like. It also has "channels" where companies can offer only their own videos, with forums, blogs, photos and other features for Bebo users to talk about what they're watching. It already offers a book authors section and a music section.

Video syndication brings in lots of compelling material that keeps people on the site, letting them sell ads that are relevant to what people are already interacting with see.

Bebo claims to have more than 40 million users worldwide, although nobody knows how many of them are active per month. Users spend 40 minutes on the site each day, according to Comscore.

The San Francisco-based company has already signed up a long list of big name partners, including MTV, ESPN, BBC, CBS, Yahoo! and others as well as startup video sites such as Crackle and Ustream.

Notably, Bebo, along with Myspace and many other social networks is a member of the Google-led Open Social project, lets developers build applications that can be implemented easily across social networks. This means video applications for OpenSocial may be introduced to the site which compete with the media companies that are offering videos through Open Media.

Media partners can join Open Media on their own. For partners that don't have a video player or video advertising sales team, Bebo offers its own services.

Cybercast credit: Bebo