Ustream.tv: Gestating in the New Media Life Cycle

Ustream saw a big jump in popularity when it streamed the inauguration of Barack Obama live on the Internet. It was a big day for a small site that has seen steady growth in the live broadcasting platform.

Here’s an overview from the site: “Ustream.TV is the live interactive video broadcast platform that enables anyone with a camera and an Internet connection to quickly and easily broadcast … by creating their own channel on Ustream or by broadcasting through their own site, empowering them to engage with their audience and further build their brand.”

In only two short years, Ustream has been able to reach high levels in the gestation phase of their new media life cycle.

Jason at iwearyourshirt.com has made great use of Ustream.

He wears your t-shirt around town as he goes about his day, posts pictures to his blog wearing the shirt, and does a one-hour broadcast on Ustream.
For the honor of wearing your shirt, he’s created a unique pricing structure. January 1 costs any potential shirt provider only $1. December 31 is $365. It’s an inventive concept he’s tied into a website, Facebook, and a Twitter feed among other things. He’s already sold out 337 days of the year. If he sells out every day, he makes more than $66K in a year for wearing and talking about someone’s t-shirt. What has driven his success is the quality of the idea. Wisely, Jason didn’t just turn on his webcam and start rapping about his t-shirt one day, then decide to make money off it. The concept came first, the platforms and channels came next. By using a live broadcast and integrating Ustream chat and a Twitter feed, Jason has developed a quality following and an engaging program. However, ultimately it’s the charm and humor of the subject that’s the real draw.

Jason is just one of Ustream’s growing roster of stars, along with Leo Laporte, P Diddy,  Snoop Dogg,  Felicia Day,  and Imogen Heap;  Ustream is not overgrown with gamers playing World of Warcraft, live webcams pointed in their faces.

How to continue into escalation

Inventive, quality content like I Wear Your Shirt is driving the gestation of Ustream, no doubt about it. The next step will be for brands to take notice and start producing for Ustream. For example, electronics brands could really benefit from broadcasts of product tutorials, showing off their wares to potential end users and maybe helping out existing users with any product bugs. It could be a great tool to proactively get ahead of support issues.

Consider again Cocktails on 12seconds.tv.  As part of their comprehensive social media campaign, they could add a live daily Cocktails broadcast to show their complete recipes and give tips on best barkeeping practices (hmm, that sounds like a delicious white paper, too).

The Twitter integration extends the reach of the channel and could further complement the strategies of those companies already engaging on Twitter.

The Takeaway

Ustream has focused on quality over quantity and has drawn traffic and attention for it. For big name brands and content producers, it’s worth considering Ustream as a new distribution channel. Advertisers, take note for the same reasons: Ustream is poised to move ahead into escalation phase. You will want to take advantage.

Question to You

What do you think – which brands should make the leap into live broadcasting to add value to end users and promote their products?

Plus, I DEFY you not to melt at the utter cuteness of Yorkie Town Texas.

About the author

Andrew Davis -

In 2002, Andrew founded Tippingpoint Labs with journalist James Cosco. Since then, he's spent countless hours exploring the online universe and building a methodological approach to developing digital strategies that drive revenue or reduce costs.

Andrew's always asking big questions and analyzing data to understand markets, online forces and even business models. Andrew's research has resulted in the creation of innovative online metrics including Online Brand Value and Category Brand Value, eye-opening graphical representations of website evolution through the New Media Life Cycle and even using online data to predict offline revenue.

When he's not surfing the web, Andrew's traveling the globe speaking to a wide-variety of audiences about everything from social media to the future of print. Andrew is a frequent contributor to the Tippingpoint Labs website and has been creating valuable content since the early 1990s for The Jim Henson Company, CNN, The Today Show and MTV.

He's contributed to a book of short stories, called The Way Things Were and produced and co-wrote Roadside Ambition a documentary film about one small town with two huge balls.

"In a world where content is consumed as rapidly as it's created, companies need to develop a sound strategy to creating valuable online experiences that can, and should, be leveraged enterprise-wide. There is a content solution to every business challenge."