P1: IML/FFX P2: IML/FFX QC: IML/FFX T1: IML
Webcasting.HA WL040/Bidgolio-Vol I WL040-Sample.cls September 15, 2003 8:50 Char Count= 0
EXAMPLES OFWEBCASTING 675radio stations and broadcast TV stations, which are ba-
sically local operations, webcasting means the disappear-
ance of geographic coverage barriers. To newspapers and
other print media, their provision of webcasting trans-
forms their status to a multimedia content provider.
To companies, webcasting opens new doors to how
training is conducted and information is shared. Instead
of restricting the training to a particular time at a partic-
ular location, employees can retrieve training materials
such as demonstration videos and conference sessions at
their own office or home at a convenient time. Current
and prospective customers can retrieve product demon-
stration videos, virtual company tours, and other interac-
tive multimedia content about a company and its products
or services at their fingertips. As more and more compa-
nies use an intranet (internal Web sites) to transmit their
webcasts, the reliability of the service greatly improves.
The Yankee Group, a research firm, projected that com-
panies will spend up to $5.9 billion on online videos by
2005 (Vonder Haar, 2002). The primary function of online
videos is for advertising and marketing purposes (53%).
Corporate communications, employee training, and sales
training are other business functions of online videos.
Financial services companies also use webcasting to
communicate with investment advisors. For example,
Safeco, a Seattle-based mutual fund, produces 40 web-
casts a year for 5,000 investment advisors who rec-
ommend Safeco funds and portfolios to clients. These
webcasts feature interviews with portfolio fund managers
every quarter to explain the different Safeco funds’ in-
vestment strategies (Vonder Haar, 2002). Webcasts can
become an important customer relation management tool
that will substitute for meetings and conferences that are
complex to arrange and cost much more.
Webcasting is also a means for international nonprofit
organizations to disseminate information to developing
countries. For example, the World Bank Institute recently
launched B-SPAN, an Internet-based broadcasting initia-
tive. B-SPAN will provide regular broadcasts of World
Bank events through webcasts over the Internet. The web-
casts feature some of the world’s leading experts and prac-
titioners in the financial, poverty, health, education, legal,
environmental, and energy fields on the latest develop-
ments in their sectors.
To individuals who would like to create media contents
and establish their own voices in the society, webcasting is
an ideal medium. Not only is there no license requirement
for the content provider, the cost of distribution to a geo-
graphically diverse audience is much lower than any tra-
ditional mass media, making the dissemination of media
content for special interest and small audiences afford-
able. In addition, there is no censorship of media content
on the Web (with the exception of some countries such as
China) and the reach of the Internet can be global. Dis-
sidents and minorities will find the Web the best place to
broadcast views suppressed by the mainstream media.
Webcasters have four strategic business revenue
sources:(1) The subscription and pay per service model, which
provides access to previously aired content or live con-
tent;(2) The broadcast advertising sponsorship broadcast
model, which offers companion content to supple-
ment current on-air programming and displays adver-
tising during the webcast;
(3) The e-commerce model, which sells products and
complementary items on the Web; and
(4) The syndication model, which creates and distributes
original digital media content to other webcasters.Webcasters must choose one or a combination of revenue
sources above to sustain or make profits from their web-
casts.EXAMPLES OF WEBCASTING
American Broadcasting Company (ABC), one of the big
three U.S. broadcast TV networks, is webcasting part of its
news content on its ABCNEWS.com site. ABCNEWS.com
distributes both daily TV news content and past ABC News
coverage on the Web via Virage’s Internet Video Applica-
tion Platform and Syndication Manager. It indexes and
publishes searchable video clips fromNightlineandWorld
News Tonightand on ABCNEWS.com. Its news clips are
also distributed to affiliates, news agencies, schools, and
any other applicable Web sites (Digital TV,2001). Its busi-
ness model is primary a subscription model. Access to the
basic Web page is free. However, additional news video
and interview clips are served as premium content, which
requires a monthly subscription fee of $4.95. It also part-
ners with Real Network’s RealOne SuperPass package as
one of the program services offered to the package sub-
scribers.
Real Network’s RealOne SuperPass (Figure 1) is an ex-
ample of a successful webcasting business model using
subscription as the source of income (Schlender, 2002).
According to Lisa Amore, the spokesperson for Real Net-
works, it has attracted 750,000 subscribers at the time
of writing (personal communication, August 9, 2002). Its
service is similar to a cable TV system’s carriage and
charges customers by subscription. The basic level sub-
scribers pay a monthly subscription fee of $9.95 to re-
ceive 15 channels of news, sports, popular culture, and
weather; 51 commercial-free radio stations; and an ad-
ditional $10 to get legal digital music download service.
The RealOne service provides a multimedia user interface
for the Web. In one window, it delivers exclusive stream-
ing audio and video content from its content providers
such as Cable News Network (CNN) and Fox Sports; in
adjacent windows, RealOne displays information of com-
panion Web sites and other explanatory materials. The
content providers share the revenue of the subscription
with Real Network.
A webcasting service based on the broadcast adver-
tising sponsorship model is OurMaine.com (Figure 2).
This webcasting is a collaborative effort between WPXT-
TV of Portland and WPME-TV. Visitors to the site can
open streaming video clips with the news of the day.
Some streaming content is picked up from other Fox Net-
work affiliates to supplement locally produced materials.
The station sends its video via FTP to its Web host. Page
views at the site exceed 500,000 per month and the station