Hat tip to LostRemote.com this morning. Interesting stats on how much video is viewed on their service, and their newly announced extension to MSN Messenger.
Watch MSNBC Video On MSN Messenger: “‘Online video is becoming more and more mainstream,’ says Charlie Tillinghast, GM and publisher of MSNBC.com. ‘One out of every five visits to MSNBC.com includes a video play and we’re reaching audiences that traditional broadcasters are struggling to reach.’
Now the site ‘plans to extend those videos to users of MSN Messenger,’ WebProNews.com says. ‘While many users do not stay on a web site all day, especially at work, many do have instant messaging clients available.’ (Via Lost Remote)”
Over the weekend, CNN loosened some of the secrecy around the upcoming premium video product hinted at in June when free on-demand video clips were launched. The new product, called CNN Pipeline, will feature multiple live video streams from around the world, according to the press release. CNN News Group Pres (and my former boss at CNN/SI) Jim Walton presented a demo to the Television Critics’ Association summer press tour, and compared some other network’s recently announced offerings as being to ‘PONG’ as Pipeline is to Playstation. Jim doesn’t mince words, ya know.
There is plenty of buzz in the media and the blogosphere – here’s a roundup.
Amy and Sam both surprised me with very touching cards this morning on this, my first Father’s Day. That boy is really amazing. I could almost read his handwriting! We spent the day in relaxing, had a nice dinner out at Fritti with Sam getting all the attention, etc. To cap the day off, I’d encourage anyone reading the blog to visit the CNN.com free video site and find the ‘CNN’s dads give advice‘ video. You may have to use the ‘search’ box at upper right – just put in ‘dads give advice’ and you’ll find it. Really quite touching. Guess I’m turning into a big ol’ softie as a dad.
So after three long years where CNN.com’s video was a premium (ie – pay) product licensed to various wholesale companies as well as direct to consumers, the site launched on Saturday (two days ahead of schedule) their new free video product. Supported by the burgeoning broadband video advertising market, the new product is slated to feature some 30 new videos daily. I was involved in the product development aspects of the advertising technology and operations side of the project. This gallery shows the combined technical teams in our ‘Port:80’ conference room gathered for the launch effort, some 12 hours of work beginning at 6am on Saturday. The best news of all – it went off without a hitch, and the reviews are already coming in.