A Week of Streaming Video Pivots
posted Sunday Mar 6, 2016 by Scott Ertz
Live video streaming is not a new concept. Livestream, Justin.tv, Stickam, Ustream and the like got started a long time ago. Despite that fact, software seems to come cyclically, with old concepts becoming popular again in short bursts. Video streaming has hit that mark with services like Twitter's Periscope and Facebook Live dominating the market for casual, mobile usage.
This has caused several services to reconsider their businesses. This week we heard 2 of the larger competitors announce just such a pivot. First Stre.am, the smaller of the two, announced that they will be adding a new focus on mobile gaming. With new additions to Android, it is easy to stream your screen similar to what Twitch offers for traditional gaming.
Stre.am will be competing with slightly more established services, such as Kamcord and Mobcrush, both of whom were prepared for these new features and have a Twitch-like focus on mobile gaming, like Boom Beach and Clash of Clans. Kamcord has received over 200,000 unique views for a single broadcast, making them a formidable competitor. Luckily for Stre.am, it is a new and emerging market, so there is room for competition.
On the other hand, Meerkat, who was the first name on the scene for mobile streaming, has been a little less forward about their intentions. In a statement on Medium, the company said,
We found the best Meerkat moments happened when people who knew each other (either in person or online) came together live and interacted in realtime. We saw this in the conversations when the threads would go on and on and on. We especially saw this in cameo when broadcasters were able to see their audience and interact in a more human way, people passed around the camera for a campfire chat session. And we saw many of these groups have the best repeat behavior of anyone.
While not detailed information, it does suggest that the company is looking into competing with Blab. Their model is interesting, though it is missing many features that would keep our company from considering it for use. The lack of 16x9 or high-res video, for example, keeps it more of a toy than a successful platform.
If Meerkat is capable of using what they already know and creating a similar service without the serious limiting factors, it is possible that Meerkat could return to popularity and possibly profitability.
