Justin.tv Wins Funding, Opens Platform
Justin.tv, a startup that will forever risk coming off as a prolonged publicity stunt rather than a business, is rolling out the platform it’s been saying was the point all along. Starting out with founder Justin Kan broadcasting his life 24/7 from a hat-cam was a way to grab attention, but now the company will open up its live video streaming services to anyone with a webcam, a computer, and an Internet connection.
That’s liable to get mighty expensive, and Justin.tv has enlisted venture capital firm Alsop Louie to foot the undisclosed bill. But Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel said in an interview Tuesday that by building its own equivalent of Flash Media Servers and using Amazon EC2, the company has cut costs from a market rate of approximately $0.36 per user hour to under a penny per user hour.
Over the past six months, Justin.tv also changed its approach from requiring a custom backpack worn by each broadcaster to being compatible with any webcam. Since then, a good number of competitors have also made themselves known, including Mogulus, BlogTV, kyte.tv, Ustream.tv, and the comparatively old Stickam (see our comparison of their relative offerings).
Some 800 people have signed up during the beta period, with a mix of small to significant audiences. Up-and-coming band the Jonas Brothers has been the biggest hit to date, with 80,000 uniques and a maximum of 14,000 simultaneous viewers turning in for a live chat last week. That seems like a much more sustainable draw than getting your founder to live-broadcast his dates with girls. Yet every other Justin.tv broadcaster, including Justin himself, seems to have less than 300 viewers present most of the times I’ve stopped by the site.
Seibel said the seven-employee company has plans to make money but doesn’t want to talk about them yet. So far it’s just one-off sponsorships and events, he admitted. The only limitations Justin.tv is placing on would-be lifecasters are they have to be at least 13 years old and abide by posted community guidelines.
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[...] costs from a market rate of around $0.36 per user per hour to under a penny per user hour, it tells NewTeeVee. The company is also using On2’s video compression technology that allows for high video [...]
VentureBeat » Justin.tv raises money, lets users broadcast themselves live on October 3rd, 2007 at 12:09 am - Permalink
[...] Sources: [1] paidContent: Justin.tv Gets Funding; Launches Open Video Streaming Servic [2] NewTeeVee: Justin.tv Wins Funding, Opens Platform [3] TechCrunch: Viewer Prank: Police Raid [...]
» Justin.tv Raises Funding For Trendy Lifecasting || Pulse 2.0: Web 2.0 Reviews & Profiles || » Blog Archive on October 3rd, 2007 at 12:16 am - Permalink
Ok great here comes the masses! Will Justin.tv limit the number of channels I can have or can someone with Multiple Personlity Disoder broadcast on 12 separate streams? Hmm where’s the press release. When will I be able to download clips and post them to youtube? Questions so many questions…
Guess I’ll just have to go see good old faithfull slavishishly diligent and brilliant Justopia
http://justopia.wordpress.com to see what’s really going on!
Meanwhile get to http://www.justin.tv and sign up fast before someone else begins streaming under your name!
Girlbytes on October 3rd, 2007 at 1:28 am - Permalink
It seems to me that iJustine (not to be confused with Justin) is the biggest Justin TV star to date.
Ed Kohler on October 3rd, 2007 at 4:11 am - Permalink
[...] Justin.tv has secured some VC funding to help it with a new live streaming video platform. [...]
Pilgrim’s Picks for October 3 on October 3rd, 2007 at 8:16 am - Permalink
[...] [via NewTeeVee] Lien permanent: [...]
Justin.tv ouvre ses portes aux internautes on October 3rd, 2007 at 3:17 pm - Permalink
[...] [via NewTeeVee] [...]
Justin.tv opens its lifecasting platform to anyone with a webcam « All About Mobile…. on October 3rd, 2007 at 10:11 pm - Permalink
[...] Justin.tv Wins Funding, Opens Platform Justin.tv, a startup that will forever risk coming off as a prolonged publicity stunt rather than a business, is […] [...]
Top Posts « WordPress.com on October 4th, 2007 at 6:50 am - Permalink
[...] previously private moments with the world, live and unedited. But while broadcasting worldwide has never been easier, turning on that webcam can turn you into Pandora 2.0. And not the hip web radio Pandora, but the [...]
The Real World (Complications) Of Life-casting « NewTeeVee on October 4th, 2007 at 1:30 pm - Permalink
Hey,
I really like these new Platforms where you can broadcast yourself! But I have a question: Is it possible to directly broadcast from your mobile @ Justin.tv, just like your are able @ kyte.tv? Because, that kinda rocks!!!! =)
cu
aurel
Aurel on October 5th, 2007 at 6:35 am - Permalink
[...] Justin.tv Wins Funding, Opens Platform NEWTEEVEE Justin.tv, a startup that will forever risk coming off as a prolonged publicity stunt rather than a business, is rolling out the platform it’s been saying was the point all along. Starting out with founder Justin Kan broadcasting his life 24/7 from a hat-cam was a way to grab attention, but now the company will open up its live video streaming services to anyone with a webcam, a computer, and an Internet connection. The company has also raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Alsop Louie Partners. Source> [...]
October 3, 2007 at on October 5th, 2007 at 5:58 pm - Permalink
[...] of our friends over at Justin.tv, they were recently funded and have opened up their lifecasting network, so now anyone can sign-up as a [...]
The Naked Cowboy in Times Square on Justin.tv | Laughing Squid on October 10th, 2007 at 9:32 am - Permalink
[...] RadiusIM Passes 100,000 Users Report: 10 percent of September iPhones sold to unlockers You Can Be on Justin.tv Too! Google Stock Reaches $600 Mark China Blocks RSS Feeds Online Ad Revenues Set New Record Link [...]
Blastr.tv » Blog Archive » Blastr EPISODE 10 - It Just Doesn’t Work on November 18th, 2007 at 9:01 am - Permalink
wow Justin have moved on a lot.
planktons on February 25th, 2008 at 7:01 pm - Permalink
[...] far their most popular users, helping the startup to secure venture funding from Alsop Louie. As I noted then: “Up-and-coming band the Jonas Brothers has been the biggest hit to date, with 80,000 [...]
Those Jonas Brothers Sure Do Get Around Online - GigaOM on July 2nd, 2008 at 6:01 pm - Permalink
[...] far their most popular users, helping the startup to secure venture funding from Alsop Louie. As I noted then: “Up-and-coming band the Jonas Brothers has been the biggest hit to date, with 80,000 [...]
Reblog » Blog Archive » Those Jonas Brothers Sure Do Get Around Online on July 3rd, 2008 at 7:03 am - Permalink