Why Video?
April 11, 2016 | Written by: Gyula Feher
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Gyula Feher, Co-founder and CTO of Ustream, an IBM Company
Video is everywhere, and it is increasingly becoming the favored form of communication – not just for entertainment, but for business as well. Back in 2007, when we founded Ustream, our primary mission was to democratize the creation and broadcasting of video (both live and VOD) over the Internet for individuals and organizations alike. While we were optimistic and confident about turning this vision into reality, no one (ourselves included) could predict that – according to research – video would represent 80 percent of all consumer internet traffic by 2019.
When content marketing first came to the scene, text-based content was the norm: white papers, email promotions and e-newsletters were crammed with words, words and more words.Today, with terabytes of text being published online every minute, consumers have had their fill. It takes a more interactive experience to draw their attention and achieve engagement. And now that video technology is more accessible than ever, marketers no longer have any excuse not to use it as the most efficient tool for getting their message out to the audience. According to the latest statistics from HubSpot, 52 percent of marketing professionals point to video as the content type with the best return on investment – ROI.
Not so long ago, only corporations could afford to create and publish professionally-looking videos. Fortunately for small
businesses, video content marketing no longer requires a five-figure budget. Today, even the smallest companies can record videos (of good quality) with a low cost HD camera, edit them with cost-effective apps, upload them to a video streaming platform and easily embed them on a blog, website or to a social media account.
Ustream joined the newly-formed IBM Cloud Video Services unit in late January; this unit combines assets from IBM’s R&D labs and strategic acquisitions, and will deliver a powerful portfolio of video services spanning over API development, digital and visual analytics, simplified management and consistent delivery across global industries.
At Ustream, we provide cloud-based video streaming to enterprises and broadcasters for everything from corporate keynotes to live music concerts. The company streams live and on-demand video to about 80 million viewers per month for customers such as NASA, Samsung, Facebook, Nike and The Discovery Channel.
We have built a video platform that is easy-to-use yet incredibly scalable, secure and powerful, and it is exactly these qualities that made us an ideal addition to IBM’s portfolio and an important component to the newly formed video unit. Looking at recent events in the industry, it feels like the world suddenly discovered and embraced live streaming, which is something we have been doing here at Ustream since 2007. We are at the point where technological advances meet mainstream market demands, and, as part of the IBM Cloud Video Services unit, we are perfectly positioned to help our customers take full advantage of this trend. 2016 will be a big year for video and a big year for IBM in the video space.
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