Reuters Livestream: customisable video programming
Jinfo Blog

By Nancy Davis Kho

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Reuters yesterday announced the availability of its new Livestream service, a 24/7 video feed designed to facilitate integration with online publishers. The goal is to make it easier for smaller publishers to compete with services like CNN.com and MSNBC with customisable, high quality video programming.

The technology behind Livestream comes courtesy of Reuters' relationship with Livestream (http://www.livestream.com/). In its press release Reuters notes that the technology has been integrated into the US-based Tribune Company as well as Australia's Fairfax Media; an item in paidContent by David Kaplan says that the New York Times also used Livestream in its coverage of the Royal Wedding, though NYT haven't officially signed on as a Livestream customer.

It was almost exactly a year ago that Reuters released its "Insider" video on demand service, covered in this LiveWire post. Insider aimed to bring financial video programming to investment professionals, staking a claim in the realm of professional (vs. kittens chasing yarn balls) video market.

The wisdom of that decision, as well as the Livestream announcement, are even clearer as one considers the encroachment of tablet computers into the workplace. The Reuters release points out that "video content is also compatible with mobile devices, including tablet technology".

As tablet sales continue to climb – a January study from Forrester Research estimated that tablet sales will total 195 million between 2010 and 2015 – news organisations are under pressure to incorporate the multimedia content that is displayed to such benefit via tablets. The Livestream solution, if priced competitively and if as customisable as Reuters contends, may help niche publishers even the playing field with larger organisations when it comes to grabbing app space on tablets in the B2B market.

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