Posts Tagged ‘YouTube’

Comscore estimates 5 billion videos were watched on YouTube in July

by Daniel Langendorf

September 10th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | Comments1 Comment

We’re obsessed with keeping score. And not just in sports. In politics, movie box office takes, the number of times Meredith and McSteamy glance longingly at each other in “Grey’s Anatomy.”

And YouTube. We love to see the YouTube balloon keep expanding, which means that online video is growing, breaking into the mainstream even more, and will one day rule the networks.

Comscore issued its July Website traffic and online video report and one number stands out: 5 billion. Comscore estimates that U.S. online videoaholics watched an average of 235 minutes of video, with 91 million viewers watching 5 billion videos on YouTube.

That’s 54.8 videos per viewer. In one month.

Just for grins, 51.4 million viewers watched 400 million videos on MySpace, about 8 videos per viewer.

Overall, Comscore says that 75 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience watched online video in July.

Marshall Kirkpatrick over at ReadWriteWeb asks a question that has been on my mind for a while: How accurate are the Comscore numbers? Are they any better than Hitwise, another analyst firm that has argued the online video market in general is declining — except for YouTube.

Numbers and statistics, of course, are subject for interpretation and barroom debate. The trend I see is right here in the house: The Kid, now a freshman in high school, has been spending even more time than usual watching YouTube videos. So are her friends. No one comes over any more to hang out and watch TV or a movie. They hang out and watch YouTube.

It’s The Kid’s TV channel of choice. After all, you can only watch MadTV’s “Can I Get Your Number” sketch twice — once if you happen to catch the original airing and a second time in rerun. On the Web and on YouTube, you can watch it over, and over, and over, and over.

YouTube gets dedicated Olympic channel, but it won't be available in the U.S.

by Daniel Langendorf

August 4th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | Comments1 Comment

The 2008 Olympic Games will be broadcast online to more than 70 countries on a dedicated YouTube channel, but the United States is not included.

NBC holds the video-on-demand rights in the U.S., but these have not been sold on an exclusive basis in other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Vietnam, Iraq, and India (see the complete International Olympic Committee list here).

The IOC will stream about three hours a day of exclusive content — mostly summaries and highlights — from Olympic Broadcasting Services. YouTube will sell ads, but only to Olympic sponsors. The channel will be available on Wednesday.

YouTube will use geo-blocking to prevent access to the channel in countries where the video-on-demand rights have been sold, like in the U.S. Geo-blocking is based on a user’s IP address.

The geo-blocking in the U.S. shouldn’t be that big of a deal, unless you’re one who wants to see everything broadcast night and day or you’re surfing videos at YouTube and want to catch up on the Olympic action without leaving the site.

NBC will show more than 2,000 hours of live content at NBCOlympics.com. That’s more than enough content to keep any Olympic fan happy — and in need of sleep.

See also: Roundup: The most digital of all Olympic games is well underway and, from ReadWriteWeb, Mainstream Web Watch: The Olympics & Online Video

Verizon bringing Internet TV to its set-top boxes

by Steve O'Hear

July 24th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | Comments1 Comment

Verizon bringing Internet TV to its set-top boxesAnother major player enters the PC to TV space. Verizon is currently beta testing web video on their set-top boxes, reports Zatz Not Funny.

Unsurprisingly, the content looks like it will be mostly user-generated or that which has been created specifically for the web, and therefore won’t compete directly with the telco’s own video-on-demand offering. Initial “marketing partners” to include Veoh, Blip.tv, Break.com, and YouTube.

On the downside, a PC is still required to act as a bridge between Internet content and the TV via Verizon’s DVR set-top box, notes Dave Zatz.

Unlike TiVo which taps directly into YouTube’s H.264 content, Verizon utilizes their Media Manager PC software as an intermediary. Sites are indexed on a regular basis and when a video is selected from the DVR, the PC software automatically transcodes and streams content on the fly.

In addition to pulling in content from supported video aggregation sites, Verizon’s Media Manager software “also facilitates shipping virtually any video podcast to your DVR”. Podcast subscriptions can be added directly to Media Manager in the standard way via the PC’s web browser.

The new features will be offered as part of Verizon’s top tier DVR package, which currently includes PC photo sharing and multi-room DVR playback, and is expected to be offered to customers later this year or early next year.

Video: YouTube finally arrives on TiVo

by Steve O'Hear

July 17th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

Although announced back in March, it’s only today that TiVo users can finally access YouTube through their set-top boxes — and a minority of TiVo users at that. The new feature is made possible because of YouTube’s decision to re-encode its library of content to H.264 video, a format that only TiVo Series 3 and HD models can support. The result, says Streaming Media’s Dan Rayburn, is that of TiVo’s four million subscribers, only 750,000 get access to YouTube, and even then only if they have their set-top box connected to the Internet, which many don’t.

Nonetheless, for those that can get it, YouTube access will be a welcome addition to TiVo’s existing lineup. And typically, TiVo appear to have implemented it well. Don’t take our word for it though, and instead judge for yourselves by watching the video after the jump (courtesy of our friends over at Zatz Not Funny).

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PlayStation 3 games can now offer YouTube uploads

by Steve O'Hear

May 19th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV, Other, Social | Comments1 Comment

PlayStation 3 games can now offer YouTube uploadsIt’s no secret that we’re fans of the PlayStation 3. And with the news that Sony’s next-generation console will now offer game developers an easy way to integrate YouTube uploads, we’re gushing once again.

By taking advantage of YouTube’s recently updated API and tools, Sony has added support for the video sharing site to its Software Development Kit to allow developers “to create games that enable direct upload of in-game video captures to YouTube”. While a few titles on both Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s XBox 360 already offer the ability to save game replays and share them over the Web, it’s the first time that a games console has offered YouTube support as a built-in and officially supported developer feature.

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YouTube continues to invade the living room, now supported by HP MediaSmart TVs and set-top box

by Steve O'Hear

May 6th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

HP has become the latest company to bring YouTube into the living room.

Owners of HP’s line of Internet-connected MediaSmart High Definition TVs, and the yet-to-be-released MediaSmart Connect set-top box, will soon be able to enjoy content from the Google-owned video sharing site “full screen” on their HDTVs, as well as log-in to their YouTube account via remote to share videos and playlists with other users.

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