That’s an awfully long title, isn’t it? I’ll try to make things clear as quickly as possible, but it’s mostly the result of a confluence of news and ideas.
I noticed a story this week about MLB.com, which as you may know is one of the most elaborate and most fully realized (and most excellent, for that matter) online broadcasting projects. It’s pretty impressive just in terms of the volume of content being delivered – 30 teams means 2,430 regular season games, according to my rough (and possibly inaccurate) calculations.
Needless to say, it’s a lot. And all of it delivered live. It’s an online project that is worth examining simply for its size and significance. And, according to this cNet story from Monday, that project will be switching from Silverlight to Flash for the delivery of its video starting next season.
A couple of stats from that story to supplement my earlier point (and confirm of my reluctant calculatons):
“MLB.com has signed up more than 1.5 million subscribers since 2003 and streams more than 2,500 regular and postseason games annually. Moreover, MLBAM [that's MLB Advanced Media] has been a technological leader and is influential among Web video services.”
The story (through no fault of the reporting) is a little sketchy on the why of the switch, but the idea seems to be that Flash media is installed on basically every web browser in operation out there. It doesn’t give a specific number for Siverlight, but it’s safe to say it’s not as much.
This MLB.com story came up while I was working on the feature I posted earlier this week about Wowza, which just announced a subscription pricing model to help make its Flash streaming server more attractive to service providers, including Web hosts.
Wowza, according to Wowza, is the streaming server for Flash. And they’re only beginning to build up their relationship with the hosting community. During the interview, the Wowza folks asked for my opinion on why hosting providers have been slow to offer Flash streaming services, though many of them offer Windows Media streaming services (which is not exactly the same as Silverlight, I realize, but it represents the same Microsoft/Adobe gap).
I probably embarrassed myself a bit by not having a good answer for that. Ultimately, I settled on what I believe is the notion Wowza is working with (and banking on, to an extent), which is that there isn’t a really obvious pricing model for Flash servers, to the extent that there is with Windows Media.
It’s an interesting question though. In terms of the volume of video delivered on the web, Flash plays a huge role in that, with YouTube, in particular, providing the big chunk of that. And flash seems to be the media of choice with most of the sites in the “we’ll host your videos for free” business. And yet, it’s nowhere near as popular in the hosting space, though I realize there are hosts providing Flash support.
In the press release announcing Wowza’s new licensing model includes a couple of customer testimonials, including this one from Troy Leaver, systems administrator at hosting provider Mediaserve:
“Having served our customers with Windows Media streaming services for several years, as Flash streaming grew ever more popular, we knew we were going to have to look into providing Flash streaming. We chose Wowza Media Server Pro based on features and reputation, but it was Wowza’s approachable subscription licensing that made it possible for us to roll out Flash streaming services.”
Obviously that’s a little written-for-PR, but the point seems clear enough. It was the pricing model that was in the way.
I’d love to put this one to WHIR readers, though. Perhaps we can get some really useful insight in the comment section.
You’re a hosting provider. You provide streaming with Windows Media. But not with Flash. Or not yet with Flash. Why not?
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
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