'Net Features : dacast

DaCast Video on Demand (VOD) Rolls Out

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 31 May 2011 18:39:00 GMT

Self-service live streaming platform DaCast rolled out Video on Demand functionality today. Using the platform, broadcasters can create premium content from their existing media libraries or develop archives of previous live shows. This “premium content” can be streamed from anywhere – from Facebook to websites in HD.

By supporting previously created content for streaming, DaCast has also helped to position itself and its users to monetize. Through DaCast, ads can be attached to the video content stream, or broadcasters can utilize a pay-per-view subscription model. Through DaCast’s Pay-in-Play payment system, VOD content can be purchased from within the media player.

“After honing our skills in live streaming, DaCast is now aiming to offer a true all-in-one platform for streaming,” said Stephane Roulland, CEO of DaCast. “By adding support for previously created content, users can now stream any type of video and audio they want from a single account. They can leverage the easy set up to quickly start streaming and monetizing their existing media content.”

DaCast has been moving towards VOD the past few months. DaCast released its Pay-in-Play system back in March and EdgeCast Networks and Dacast expanded their partnership in early May, 2011 to enable broadcasters to deliver content through the Edgecast CDN. Is it ready for primetime?

Live Streaming & the CDN – EdgeCast and DaCast

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 04 May 2011 09:00:00 GMT

Content delivery network Edgecast Networks and live streaming platform DaCast announced an expanded partnership today that will enable broadcasters to more quickly deliver content through Edgecast and monetize that broadcast through the self-service monetization tools offered by DaCast.

“Streaming directly from a global delivery network means a dramatic improvement in the user experience, which leads to more loyalty, more revenue, and a stronger bottom line for content publishers,” said Anthony Citrano, VP of communications and marketing at EdgeCast. “Access to such a network was once available only to companies with millions of dollars to invest, but now even the smallest of publishers have this power at their fingertips.”

DaCast’s Anthony Romero expects overall performance to “see a shot in the arm” as it will increase the consistency of DaCast streams. The biggest leap will be from improved upload speed, particularly in the United States.

EdgeCast utilizes a SuperPOPs approach wherein their servers all across the world provide points of presence. “We (DaCast) have utilized this infrastructure to provide high quality bandwidth across our service for our users all over the planet,” posted Romero.

Pay-Per-View Video from DaCast

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:36:00 GMT

Self-service live-streaming platform DaCast has integrated a rather innovative payment system (dubbed Pay-in-Play) which is embedded into the DaCast video and audio player. That’s right – consumers will pay inside the video and audio player directly.

As far as I know this is one of the first fully integrated solutions to offer viewers a way to pay for premium content and for publishers to sell media. It’s like Pay-Per-View for the digital media set.

According to DaCast, based on a month long testing from a pool of beta-testers, conversion rates were increased by 233% - not too bad.

The DaCast Pay-in-Play system is currently available now to DaCast users. Broadcasters already using DaCast’s rich monetization features will see the new Pay-in-Play already integrated into their pay per view streams.