Comments on: YouTube's Big Live Debut: Pretty Small

By: UTube: 10 Million Streams For Bono and Co.’s Live Show | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:22:43 +0000

[...] or how many did so concurrently. YouTube’s first attempt at live streaming, its weird “YouTube Live” concert/award show, may have attracted a peak audience of [...]

By: Peter Kafka

Peter Kafka — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 02:07:56 +0000

Advertisers are ok with the concept of niches – defined as distinct groups of people. But they wants lots of those people. If YouTube could say that those 700,000 viewers were are all 18-35 year-old men who like adventure sports and were interested in a new car, then yes, that might be a niche that’s worth something. But 700,000 people that happen to be watching YouTube on a Saturday night? That’s not a niche – that’s just a small audience.
None of the above means this is a failure, by the way. It’s clearly a test program for YouTube, which hasn’t done live streams before. Let’s see what they roll out next.

By: David H Deans

David H Deans — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:17:34 +0000

Peter, you describe it as “a niche event” that’s highly focused — as though that’s a bad thing. Ironically that’s exactly what big media has been attempting to deliver to advertisers. Meaning, if you can accurately profile that niche, then advertisers will likely pay more. Perhaps lots of eyeballs is less meaningful if those eyes — and associated brains — couldn’t care less about you brand message.