Ustream On Facebook Grows A Celebrity Following, Tops 6 Million Hours Streamed

28
Sep

Ustream On Facebook Grows A Celebrity Following, Tops 6 Million Hours Streamed

author: editor category: TechCrunch

Earlier this summer live video streaming service Ustream scored a big win as it was endorsed by Facebook as its preferred live video service. The app gives celebrities and brands a way to create their own live streams without having to build custom Live Stream Box applications, which also launched in June. Ustream on Facebook is only available to brands and celebrities at this point (you have to apply to the program if you want it), but it’s already seeing some impressive stats — to date, the app has seen nearly 4 million total viewers and more than 6 million hours streamed.

The app’s growing roster of celebrity users includes Miley Cyrus, CBS Mountain Dew, The Jonas Brothers, Ashton Kutcher, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Honors Society, Ashley Tisdale, Reba McEntire, Diddy’s White Party, Hurley Pro and U.S. Open surfing competitions, Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Global Summit, as well as a number of other live concerts and even Duke University’s office hours. Facebook executives have used the app as well, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg streaming from Brazil during a talk and COO Sheryl Sandberg using it for her Advertising Week keynote.

To be clear, Facebook and Ustream don’t have a financial relationship — rather, Facebook has chosen Ustream as its “preferred provider for live streaming video on Facebook”. Facebook was involved in helping develop the application and its initial testing during some massively popular Jonas Brothers events, and has previously recomended it in its blog posts.