First Look: OnTheAir's Video Call-In Show Platform Makes Hangouts and Ustream Seem Static
Google Hangouts only allows ten viewers to participate and Ustream allows zero, but with OnTheAir, anyone watching a live stream can video chat with the host in front of the audience.
Context & Ripple Effects
TechCrunch took a similar swing at social live video three years ago with its YouTube RealTime first look, back when weaving a live feed through a social graph was still unproven. Since then two incumbents have defined the field, and both cap participation: Google Hangouts seats ten people, Ustream seats zero viewers on screen. OnTheAir's entire pitch is removing that cap — any viewer of a live stream can video-chat with the host in front of everyone else watching.
The pickup signals the market reads it as more than a demo: Mashable and PandoDaily both carried the first look the same day. And with Ustream having cleared Apple's App Store as far back as December 2009, the launch frames the live-video contest as interaction design versus installed distribution.
First-order effects
- Hosts picking a live-video platform now have an interactivity axis to judge on: OnTheAir lets any viewer video-chat with the host on air, where Google Hangouts seats only ten participants and Ustream seats none.
- For creators running interview-format shows, the call-in mechanic cuts booking friction — guests surface from the live audience instead of being lined up in advance.
Second-order effects
- Google's and Ustream's participation limits flip from design choices into competitive liabilities, pressuring both to reconsider who is allowed on screen in their own products.
- Ustream can counter with what it already holds — an approved iPhone app since December 2009 — making mobile reach its answer to OnTheAir's interaction advantage.
Third-order effects
- If call-in shows hold as a format rather than a novelty, live video bifurcates into broadcast-style streams and talkshow-style rooms, forcing every platform in the category to choose which side it serves.
- Audience participation becoming table stakes would move the value of these services from stream quality toward moderation and guest-routing tools — the software layer OnTheAir is betting on.
The trend: Live streaming is drifting from passive one-to-many broadcasts toward participatory talk-show formats in which any viewer can join the host on camera.