Posts for 'NBA'

Sports continues to be on the front lines of the broadband video revolution and with its All-Star game this weekend it's the NBA's turn to show its stuff. Not to be outdone by the Olympics, MLB or NHL, the NBA is going all out with mobile and broadband video supplements to this weekend's game festivities, building on last year's "TNT OverTime Extra" initiative.

Among other features, there will be 4 additional camera angles available in OverTime Extra. There's an integration with Facebook (similar to what CNN did with the inauguration) which will build community interaction during the game. New also is the NBA.com All-Star Live app which will allow iPhone users to watch the extra 4 camera angles live on their iPhones. (hmm, I wonder what AT&T thinks of all that network consumption?) And there's "All-Star Scene" offering a range of fan-generated content and interactivity.

Broadband is continuing to prove itself as a highly valuable companion to traditional on-air sports coverage, opening up significant new engagement and monetization opportunities. Much more is yet to come.

What do you think? Post a comment now.

Below is the 6th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for Feb. 13, 2009.

This week Daisy Whitney and I discuss the growth of mobile video and specifically new research that Cisco released earlier this week indicating massive increases in traffic over the next 5 years.

Of course mobile video has never suffered from a shortage of hype, but with the popularity of the iPhone and other smartphones, mobile video usage finally seems to be crystallizing in '09. Daisy and I discuss several apps, including one coming up this weekend from NBA.com and TNT whereby users will be able to watch 4 additional camera angles of the All-Star game on their iPhones.

Click here for previous podcasts

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Another sign of how quickly broadband video companies are adapting themselves to market conditions: Eyespot, which started by providing video editing capabilities to users of big branded web sites has evolved its focus to a network model, specializing in mid-tail sized video providers. CEO/co-founder Jim Kaskade explained their shift to me and why it's paying off.

Eyespot's core capability remains providing video editing and sharing tools, but it is now also offering them in a self-serve model, enabling small-to-mid sized sites to quickly get up and running. Jim sees at least 2 clear differentiators for Eyespot:

First, for sites which want to offer a user-contributed video capability, Eyespot addresses all the complexities such as handling multiple file formats, offering strong moderation and monetization. ExpertVillage is a good example of a site benefiting from this approach. EP's myriad "experts" contribute their how-to videos to the site using Eyespot's tools. In this model, Eyespot is fundamental video infrastructure, powering all of the video publishing at the site.

Depending on the business model the provider chooses for the user-contributed capability, all of their video can be included for syndication to other sites by Eyespot to others in the network. This includes options for delivery to mobile devices. Eyespot monetizes the network, currently at $4-8 CPM. In addition to powering user contributions, this capability is also appealing for mid-tail providers who just intend to upload and manage their own video.

A second differentiator, for providers who don't necessarily want to allow user uploads, is Eyespot's core video studio. In this offering, content providers offer their own library of media assets for users to mix and publish. NBA.com is an example of this implementation. When you go to NBA.com, in the video tab, there's an option for "NBA Highlight Mixer," where the user will find media that NBA has offered for mixing. A gallery of users' mixes is displayed, along with tools to share and embed your mixes. In this example, Eyespot augments the NBA's other video initiatives powered by Akamai's StreamOS.

Jim explained that the payoff from offering video personalization is in driving more video views and hence more ad revenue. Jim explained that a typical site might get 10 video views per unique visitor per month, while Eyespot-powered sites get around 80.

I've been bullish for a while about the potential of user contributions and editing, yet it seemed like the market was slow to catch on. With Eyespot's new approach making access to its tools much easier, this will hopefully accelerate adoption.