Connecting the Dots / An Agency Blog

Since early 2009, watching broadcast live events online has undergone a substantial shift in the way we consume, interact with, and express ourselves while watching TV on desktop computers and now, even mobile devices. That very year, the Obama Inauguration went down in history for a handful of reasons, one of which was social media being paired with the experience of watching a live event online. Viewers were able to update their Facebook status through a web page that CNN used to cover the event — allowing online viewers the ability to publicly express themselves to a virtual audience. This was followed shortly thereafter by the 2009 NBA All Star Game, which offered a Facebook status component much like the Inauguration pioneered. Ever since these two pivotal events, new and engaging ways in which online viewers experience live events have been changing the online broadcast environment. Let’s take a look at five of them.

1) Make a live event viral
The introduction of Ustream’s Social Stream back in October of 2009 allowed viewers of live events (or anything on Ustream, really) the ability to sign into all their social platforms in one place — right beside the show/performance/event that they happened to be watching. This integration has since allowed for viewers tweeting or chatting about what they’re watching to pull in viewers from their friend networks who initially might have had no idea the event was going on. Within a month of the technology being implemented, the rock group Kiss broadcast one of their performances live from the Staples Centre on Facebook, via Ustream. The concert reached nearly 2 million viewers online. It wound up being the 5th largest audience Ustream ever assembled in 2009. Fans were dropping ASCII art of everything from lit lighters, devil horns and the iconic KISS logo into the chat stream beside the show, defining for possibly the first time ever the concept of virtual cheering.

2) Engaging the passivity of the viewer
One of the most liberating things about social networks has been its ability to transform traditionally passive media into a conversational experience. With digital social networks, the traditionally passive activity of watching TV is changing as well, turning couch potatoes into active participants of a social experience that could force TV as we know into an outdated pastime. Watching live events online now affords viewers the ability to directly interact with the hosts, celebrities, and even other audience members of the events they’re watching. Just this past March, the online component of the Oscars produced an excellent example of this. The online audience was able to engage, via Facebook, the stars on the red carpet by being allowed to ask them questions through a host with access to the wall feed for the show. No longer was distaste for a star’s outfit restricted to the living room. The thought of your mom talking to Sandra Bullock via Ryan Seacrest and the like is now, in effect, a reality.

3) Offer more value over traditional cable TV
The live streaming of the 2010 Oscars was a first for the Academy. In addition to the Facebook Connect experience, Oscar.com also offered up streams of a Thank-You Cam that fans could watch extended thank you speeches on, as well as a backstage view and VIP stream, all of which was viewer controlled. What the Oscars didn’t do, however, was broadcast the actual ceremony online.

Until online audiences materialize as a formidable threat to the $84 billion dollars that the cable/satellite/telco TV access industry is currently enjoying every year, it’s unlikely we’ll see Oscar online in its entirety. So, despite all the innovation that’s happening, and the value being offered to digital viewers, these experiences are mostly designed to get viewers spreading the word about watching an event the old way; on cable. This will change, though. As we begin to disconnect our TV’s for a more immersive viewing experience, networks will begin to offer their content online. Despite rogue feeds like justin.tv and atdhe.net/ offering free access to broadcasts of just about anything, including a chat window much like the official productions do. Right now, it’s strictly a numbers game that has cable TV currently winning; a lead that can’t last much longer.

4) Pair realtime metrics with a realtime live event
Just recently the 2010 MTV Music Video Awards pulled the aforementioned tactic of keeping the goods to a cable only audience as well. For the online crowd though, they offered up one of the most integrated online broadcast live event experiences to date. Just not of the actual show! Still, viewers were able to view a variety of camera views, from backstage to the white carpet (MTV’s version of the red carpet), and the arena itself before the show started. During the event, MTV was running polls, tracking the pulse of the global Twitter feed and even offered up a badge on Foursquare for fans with enough check-ins at sanctioned music venues that helped to create buzz weeks before the show. All of this produced a non-linear, user controlled experience that has yet to be rivaled in any kind of broadcast experience, live or otherwise.

5) The gaming of real life
Sometimes I feel like the only guy out there blown away by the technology that powers MLB online. I’ve blogged about this before, and I’m about to do so again, so bear with me. MLB has been leading the way for sport fans to engage with their favourite teams through digital networks. The website continues to be a living breathing representation of everything that happens on the base pads, they’ve been pioneering the online TV experience for watching sports, and the MLB iPhone app takes that sophisticated viewing experience onto mobile devices. They were one of the first sport leagues to integrate Twitter into their viewing experience, and now, as part of a game recap, fans are able to look at social media traffic spikes in relation to key plays. Crazy! But it gets weirder.

Lately, MLB’s GameDay desktop player has slowly been making improvements to the visual representation of baseball online for users listening to a game via audio feed. Just a little over a year ago this view was as bland as the gum included in a pack of baseball cards, but things are constantly evolving. Parks are representative of their real life companions, players have numbers and last names on their avatars, and virtual crowds are now in the stands. Don’t get me wrong, it all looks incredibly rudimentary at this point, but could a fully animated experience similar to MLB2K10 be far away? The difference here isn’t a game that you play, it’s a game that you watch — a video game — and each movement is mimicking something that’s happening in realtime, in real life. Pair that with inline twitter conversations, traffic spike break downs inning by inning, video game highlights, play analysis in the form of info-graphic comparisons that plot every move along with the current weather and wind, and you’ve got a heightened representation of reality in a graphic environment. Does this freak you out? I have to admit, this kind of freaks me out.

While 800,000 U.S. citizens dumped their cable subscriptions for a web only household TV last year, it’s not as impressive as it sounds compared to the rabid appetite for cable TV in the States. At this time, it’s nowhere near the dent needed for the industry to shake in their boots. Still, in light of some of the innovative ways in which people are experiencing televised live events online, one has to wonder how long traditional cable TV can hold out. If you decide to pull the plug on your cable bill this year, it’s likely you won’t be alone.

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