Popular video streaming site Justin.tv has launched a new Facebook app that allows users to watch live video right from Facebook. The app is simply called “Live.”
This is not the first Facebook app to do this, but this one is free for anyone to use and does not require any registration or approval.
“There have been a couple of live video apps launched on Facebook since they added the capabilities in their API, but we didn’t think they were really a good fit for the majority of users,” Evan Solomon, Justin.tv VP Marketing tells murdok. “Ustream requires a signup and approval process, so when the urge to broadcast live on Facebook strikes, you better hope it lasts. We think speed of setup is a killer feature on an app like this, so we made it open for anyone to use instantly.”
Justin.tv’s app comes with two main functions: Watching and broadcasting. While watching, you can also chat with other viewers and post status updates to your Facebook profile. The app shows live channels, and if you have Facebook friends that are broadcasting, they will show up first in the line-up. After friends, the app looks for anyone in your networks, and fills the rest in with content from the Justin.tv site.
You can also broadcast live from within Facebook and let your friends know at your convenience. You can see the live chat along with the broadcast window, and talk with viewers.
“Stickam charges users $0.45/gig of bandwidth for an ad-free version,” says Solomon. “The truth is that almost no one cares about having ads on their content these days.”
For those that do care, however, they still offer a solution. “Ustream offered a customized, ad-free app for a $15,000 signup fee and over $800/month,” says Solomon. “We think that is nuts. If anyone wants a customized version of the app to include branding/remove ads, they can contact Justin.tv here.”
Here is an example of a customized app:
“What people do care a ton about is paying for things they think should be free,” says Solomon. “Especially when they have to pay based on something [like] bandwidth, that very few people have a good understanding of. We don’t charge anyone to broadcast on Justin.tv, so we’re not charging anyone to broadcast with our Facebook app either.”
I would imagine that Justin.tv’s Facebook app will be nearly as popular as Justin.tv itself, if not more so. Facebook is growing tremendously (it’s almost catching Google in unique visitors). The app could open up Justin.tv to a lot of people that weren’t already familiar with it.
