From The Trenches: The Problem With Live Web Video And How To Set It Free

Editor's note : Michael Seibel is the CEO of Justin.tv , the largest live video site on the Web. In this guest post, he addresses the challenges of live video on the Web and how to set it free (hint: it's all about mobile). I spend a lot of time talking about the challenges that live video will face in growing from an intriguing group of startups to an obvious part of the everyday web experience. Nearly everyone assumes that business challenges are what we need to overcome—bandwidth costs, copyright protection, premium content rights or monetization. They are surprised when my answers are product-focused, not business-focused. Problem 1: Availability . The first evolution of consumer live video creation came in one flavor: broadcast from a computer with a webcam. Unfortunately, the interesting things that happen when you sit in front of your computer screen are few and far between. Being tethered to a computer is the single biggest problem in live video today. People need to be able to create live video from anywhere.