Streaming
Media:
What It Is and Why You Should Have It
Streaming media is one
of the hottest Web technologies available today. It represents a whole new way
of reaching your customers, and if used effectively, can make a dramatic difference
in your company's bottom line. This article is intended to demystify streaming
media while discussing the benefits it offers to content producers like you.
WHAT IS STREAMING MEDIA?
Streaming media refers to audio or video that is delivered, or "streamed,"
over the Internet to your computer desktop in real time. In other words, you're
hearing the sounds or watching the moving pictures as they are being
transmitted to you.
This is a big improvement
over the days when, in order to watch a video clip, you first had to download
the entire file to your computer's hard drive - a time-consuming process that
also required a lot of hard drive space to store the file.
Streaming eliminates the
wait and requires no file storage. Instead of downloading the entire file, you
simply access the video stream using a media player such as RealPlayer, Windows
Media Player, or Apple's QuickTime. These players, which are available for free
over the Internet, look like miniature TV screens with VCR-like controls (play,
stop, rewind, fast forward). To access streaming video from a Web site, a user
just clicks on the material they want to see, watches their player pop up, and
sits back to enjoy the experience.
HOW IS STREAMING DONE?
The basic process goes like this:
1. The content (video or
audio) is encoded. This includes compressing the media file to reduce its size,
enabling it to travel faster and more freely over a network.
2. The encoded material is
sent out over the Internet to a proprietary media server. From there, the file
is either archived (stored) on the server until users
access it, or it is streamed immediately to the user - which is what happens
during a live Webcast.
NEW YORK-based MYOFFICES, has developed relationships with companies that
have been delivering audio and video streams for the past five years. Other
providers of streaming media include Yahoo! Broadcast (formerly Broadcast.com),
RealNetworks (makers of the RealPlayer), Akamai and iBeam.
MYOFFICES' potential client list ranges from media
titans (CNN, NBC and Turner Broadcasting, to name a few) to local and regional
television affiliates to the small website owner seeking to enhance his web experiences
using MYOFFICES's network to stream their newscasts
on their Web sites.
WHY SHOULD I OFFER
STREAMING MEDIA?
In a nutshell, putting streaming media on your Web site makes it a lot more
exciting. That means more eyeballs hitting your site. And that means more
advertising opportunities.
Moreover, streaming media
is a natural for television stations. It allows you to extend the life of your
programming and reach new viewers. Research shows that Americans are spending
more time online and less time watching TV. By streaming your programming live
or making it available on demand, you build new audiences for your advertising.
Streaming media providers
like MYOFFICES will take your content from various sources - Beta-SP, DVD,
S-VHS, satellite, etc. - encode it, deliver it over their distributed network,
and even report back to you with valuable user data.
Wireless is the Wave of the
future
No matter where you turn
these days, it is hard to escape mentions of wireless data and handheld
devices, such as the Palm Pilot. And with good reason.
American business -- not just high-tech companies -- are rushing to move their
content and applications from desktop PCs to gee-whiz gizmos that are
increasingly mobile, versatile and powerful.
Today only 7.4 million
people in the
While the number of future
users may be overly optimistic, I agree with the basic premise that information
users (addicts, especially) will become less dependent on the desktop computer
and more dependent on mobile computing devices.
What will the Internet
access device of 2003 look like? Probably part cell phone,
part Palm Pilot and part MP3 player.
So what does all this talk
of wireless devices have to do with TV? More than you think!
At their core most local TV
stations are local content creators and distributors. It is in the stations'
best interest to make that content available on whatever devices best serve
their customers. While stations are focused on delivering content over the air
and to Web browsers, they also need to have an eye on wireless and handheld
devices.
At MyOffices,
we began working toward a "mobile edition" of the Web site more than
a year ago. We seek to become one of the first online TV stations in the
country to offer news and sports stories, along with traffic and weather
information, to Palm Pilot users.
To access the content, Palm
users must first download an application called AvantGo.
It is a popular piece of software that makes it relatively easy for Palm users
to "subscribe" to various content channels. Suddenly, in-depth
content is very mobile. For example, I used to read the local newspaper while
grabbing a quick lunch. Now a user can grab the Palm and read stories from the
New York Times, CNET News and The Wall Street Journal -- with no ink residue on
my fingers or bulky papers to recycle.
While handheld devices only
account for a small fraction of the pages downloaded weekly from MyOffices, downloads of Palm content have grown from about
6,000 pages a week a year ago to 28,000 in may 2000
While only three percent of
Internet users now access the Web by cell phone, that number is expected to
grow to 78 percent within the next year, according to Cap Gemini Associates. If
your station isn’t exploring wireless delivery of content, you should be
partnering with companies who are.
For more information, visit
www.myoffices.com
Our focus is turning
E-Commerce Browsers Into E-Commerce Buyers
Television is the
greatest media tool of all time. We have a simple mission bring the television
to the consumer. Streaming is the first step in delivery of content to
uncharted territory. Everybody wants a piece of the pie, and e-commerce
provides a seemingly easy opportunity for businesses to reach a global audience
to increase their market share.
But simply adding a Web
site to an existing business is not enough to attract customers who will make
online purchases. With customer conversion rates a dismal 1.5 percent, and
abandoned online shopping carts as high as 88 percent, it is clear that
shopping online is not the easy, convenient experience companies hoped it would
be (Resource Marketing, Inc. 2000). According to a fall 1999 study by Boston
Consulting Group, "28% of all attempted online purchases failed, and four
out of five consumers who have purchased online experienced at least one failed
purchase attempt. Adding streaming content increases the visibility of your
commercial.
With 240% projected
growth over the next three years, companies who invest their energy into better
functionality of their e-commerce sites will be the leaders of the pack (Boston
Consulting Group, 1999). Surveys have shown that first-time shopping
experiences on a Web site are a strong determining factor for future purchases.
"On average, shoppers with satisfying first-time experiences completed 12
transactions per year and spent $500. Users who had dissatisfying first-times
averaged four purchases per year and spent $140" (Boston Consulting Group,
2000). In addition, 80% of Internet users have more than a year of surfing
experience, and they are no longer tolerant of sites that do not function up to
par. It is therefore vital that businesses investigate and understand what it
takes to build and maintain a successful e-commerce venture.
Recent surveys as well
as academic studies have found that successful e-commerce sites take usability
into consideration when designing their interface.