One Technology - Many Uses
The technology used for by a web casting service (or contractor) is identical and independent of the content that is being broadcasted. Although the technology is the same for web casts that are for Religion and entertainment (or even corporate calls) – the customer feels better when the person producing the web cast knows something about the content. So the difference between one company and another often falls on the amount of experience the producer has for that specific type of content – although the technology is exactly the same.
Hard / Soft ROI
The ROI – return on investment – can be calculated in several ways. For online video service providers there are specific types of customers that depend on their online video content for the majority of their income. These customers usually sell Pay-per-view or Adult content. Additionally, these customers tend to adopt new technologies slower than customers who are less dependent on the actual content of their online videos. When a customer has to make a return on their content, the term Hard ROI is often used.
When the customer doesn’t require a specific return from their investment, the term Soft ROI is generally used. These customers don’t actually have to make money from the investment – but they want to. Its more of an investment in their image – a marketing expense for example.
Service Provider Models
There are roughly seven server provider models. Some service providers offer all of the following services while some companies specialize in a few. The first, Encoding, involves a lot of computing resources and can have a high barrier to entry for small companies. There isn’t a real standard for web casting (currently) so Encoding companies must support multiple platforms (e.g. Real Media Player and Windows Media Player). The second, Live Web Casting, is also expensive. To steam live events, it’s necessary to have a portable (or temporary) Internet connection, an encoding cluster and a broadcasting cluster. This model is really the TV of the Internet. Additionally, people will tend to pay a premium for this service. The third, Digital Rights Management, is very important to those companies that rely on Hard ROI (or who are dependent on revenue from the content of their video streams). The fourth, Reporting, is a service whereby the company examines and creates detailed reports on who is watching the streaming content. The fifth, Content Delivery, was the first part of the industry that became commoditized. This is the process of delivering the content to the viewers. The sixth, Consulting, can relate to any of the other models and is usually conducted by outside contractors who will come in and help with temporary or one-off online events. The final model relates to hardware and hardware distribution. This is also a commoditized model and is really owned by the large computer manufactures.
Technology Fact - Microphones
There are two main types of microphones, The first is Dynamic. These microphones are good for working in noisy places and/or working where the noise levels can not be controlled. A dynamic microphone is pointed to a specific area where the wanted noise is coming from. These microphones tend to be less sensitive to background noice and are also electromagnetic. The second type of microphone is a Condenser microphone. These microphones are very sensitive and are mainly used in the studio where one can control the ambient noise. These microphones are electrostatic.
Further Fact – What’s the difference between web conferencing and web casting?
There is one major difference the separates web conferencing and web casting. That difference relates to the number of people that are producing the broadcast and the number of people who are receiving the broadcast. The traditional web cast is a one-to-many broadcast. That is, there’s one person, group or thing that is producing the web cast and that broadcast is being sent to several (if not thousands) of people. A web conference can use the same technology as a web cast, but the communication is a one-to-one or a many-to-many broadcast. That is, there can be several people speaking to one-another simultaneously. A web conference is very similar to a telephone conference (except that there’s a video that accompanies the voice).