UPDATED 09:25 EDT / SEPTEMBER 13 2010

Youtube Streams Live. Where’s the Cash?

Youtube has put itself in line with Justin.tv and Ustream, as it gets into the live-streaming business with a two-day experiment.  The new live-streaming enables third parties to broadcast live programs over Youtube, with just the use of a webcam or external USB/FireWire camera.

This live streaming platform trial is expected to air on Monday and Tuesday at 8am PT.  You’ll need to visit Youtube or websites/ blogs with web apps embedded for access.  A few launch-time content partners include Rocketboom, Howcast, Young Hollywood and Next New Networks. This is yet another video development that we should be looking forward to in the future. From Mark Hopkins, SiliconANGLE Editor-in-Chief:

“This is something we all expected YouTube to do for quite some time. Just recently, they acquired live-streaming technology in the purchase of Episodic, a live and on demand streaming provider. This move validates the space that competitors like Justin.TV and Ustream have been operating in for years, but poses a much larger problem for YouTube: monetization. The problem YouTube has had monetizing it’s on demand content will be completely overshadowed by the problem they’ll have when they allow everyone in the world to create a live stream as well.”

This whole testing of Youtube seem to have also sprung out of Facebook’s efforts to being the number one site users spend most of their time, surpassing Youtube.  According to ComScore’s report last July, Youtube has 143.2 million unique viewers putting it on top of the list of sites in online video content, followed by Yahoo and Facebook at 55.1 million and 46.6 million respectively. Facebook rose from 43 million last June and an apparent increase in such a short period.

Though this is not the first time Youtube has offered live-streaming, (there was the broadcasted concert of rock band U2 in October of last year), the website has not yet revealed any of the particulars of their future plans in live streaming.  But YouTube will need to find the best way to fit into live-streaming from an advertisng and consumer perspective.  Being dedicated to the user-generated crowd, YouTube will do well to develop additional channels for marketing to occur, particularly as real-time trends mark their influence on the industry.  Others hoping to generate revenue from the movment include Live Matrix, a live-event guide that launched this morning.


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