Comments on: Ustream.TV pushing inline ads without warning.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:23:11 +0000

Yeah those ads pretty much sucked. I agree that they need to make money but i think a very small lower third type would be best.

On the other side I think you did over react a little Todd. It is a free service and they don’t have to tell you anything since the TOS probably said they were allowed to inject ads where they wanted.

Now both of you go kiss and make up

By: Melanie McKinney

Melanie McKinney — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:30:18 +0000

They emailed people several months ago and did media outreach (see that Mashable post above). I spoke with a buddy of mine who works at Ustream and he said they are testing out many different ads methods. Apparently they are launching several new services/programs soon. Personally, I like the overlays better than pre-rolls!

By: Jason Evers

Jason Evers — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:26:19 +0000

It was announced back in June. They have been testing a variety of ads over the last 6 months from pre-roll to mid-rolls to overlays. See here: http://mashable.com/2008/06/19/ustream-ads/ Not sure where you have been Todd, but this is the case for all the live streaming sites. BlogTV is 100 times worse than Ustream. Mogulus is doing the exact same ads on their service (through Scanscout just like Ustream). Its a free service, so you gotta expect them to keep the lights on somehow. Ustream is still by far the best out there.

By: Matteo Berlucchi

Matteo Berlucchi — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:00:58 +0000

We are happy to consider having you on Livestation if you want to have a chat. As you can see from our service we deal mainly with the big news guys but we are starting to look at interesting and quality web content as well. Get in touch if you are interested.

By: KtecK

KtecK — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:10:28 +0000

Check out stickam... they will work with you to do a setup that fits your needs (they did for Leo Laporte) http://www.stickam.com/ (btw was a big supporter of ustream)

By: GeekNews

GeekNews — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:51:32 +0000

My issue was there was no warning. Or even the request to pay for premium service. Its not like I don’t pay for things I use.

This site has ads of course but its not cool to push ads into the content the way they did un-announced.

The ads were weird as well not at all suited for the content.

By: Rick Savoia

Rick Savoia — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:39:44 +0000

Apparently this was implemented two weeks ago with no announcement or warning. There are a few unhappy campers in the forums. Aside from the sudden shock of the ads themselves and their size and placment, the primary concern is the content of the ads since some of them are clearly inappropriate for the audience of the content being viewed. The mod you talked to is just a volunteer. From his responses to the posts it seemed to take him by surprise as well and it is likely he is merely reacting to do some damage control with no real preparation. I was watching the Round Table discussion and having been a member of UStream for awhile I was definitely not expecting it. These are Google ads overlayed on the video and apparently there was no filter in place. The first at was for a CT scan. What that had to do with the discussion was anybody's guess. This was clearly a poor judgement on the part of UStream. At the very least they should have given the members a one or two week notice before launching the ads. If this is the way they treat their content providers and viewers they may not be in business long.

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:21:18 +0000

I heard about the ads several months ago, they just did not know how to go about embedding it into the stream.

By: Adam Sanders

Adam Sanders — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 01:31:29 +0000

You have a million ads pastered on here and I don’t complain.

Personally I think you are overreacting and sound very petty.

My 2 cents.

By: Jamie Davis, the Podmedic

Jamie Davis, the Podmedic — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:43:11 +0000

I would expect to see more of this on other sites in the future, Todd. The sites that have been coasting VC money without a revenue model have likely been asked to put up or shut up. Given the state of the economy, they are not going to be alone in making moves to monetize. Still no excuse for the way they instituted it.

I’ll bet bootstrapping the company seems better all of the time!

By: @Shawno

@Shawno — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:16:57 +0000

I’ve always had weird issues with their service. If they’re randomly inserting ads now, I’ll just go elsewhere for my streaming needs.