G'day sports fans,
Wanted to bring you up to speed on a wonderful development in recent times at SportingPulse, which is that we've recently signed a partnership agreement with YouTube that will offer all clients significant benefits in launching, aggregating or re-branding existing YouTube channels.
It's an exciting step in our video and web content strategy, as it immediately closes the door on any barrier to entry sporting organisations have in video due to cost, whilst ensuring your video content is integrated with your SportingPulse Website.
Our partnership with YouTube is based on the size and scope of the aggregated SportingPulse network and as such, isn’t available to individual sporting organisations independent of SportingPulse. However, we will provide all advanced tools to our sporting partners that are not available to the base customer, as well as further integration opportunities enabling users to better engage with their members.
How can it benefit your sport?
If you are a club that uses YouTube to show videos – either through a YouTube channel or via individual videos embedded into your website – then you will have option to allow SportingPulse to ‘claim’ the rights to your channel on your behalf and therefore provide you with access to additional features.
Claiming channels means that the client (e.g. your club/league/association) agrees that
SportingPulse can enhance the channel offering with the following partner features:
- Customised players: SportingPulse can customise players for partners, ultilising partner drop zones, use of logos to link to sites (e.g. league to club links through club logos) and other customisable use of these partner spaces (costs may apply).
- Integration with web and mobile: With use of the YouTube API, SportingPulse will better service integrated video offerings with Smartphones and mobile applications.
- Additional control over your own content and the theming of your channel.
- Long play: The ability to upload longer videos (15 minute limit for regular users)
- Large Files: Unlimited video upload file size (2GB limit for regular users)
- Bulk uploading: This feature is not available to regular users
- Zero Cost: No costs associated with usage or these features
- Live Streaming: YouTube have recently released live streaming functionality exclusively for their partners, which is later saved as an on-demand video (i.e. can be watched at any time). The live stream has no limit on usage or views and carries no charge to the partner or client.
Importantly, having your channel claimed does not result in any loss or ownership of your current video content.
How can you get involved?
If your club/league/association currently uploads videos on YouTube or operates a YouTube channel, you are eligible to take advantage of our partnership by allowing SportingPulse to claim your channel.
Simply email us including details of your current YouTube channel to be claimed.
Example YouTube Channel:
The graphic below depicts an example YouTube channel skin - in this case for the Eastern Football League (EFL) channel - highlighting some of the customisation possible under the new partnership:
What about RivusTV and Brightcove?
RivusTV will continue to be our partner for sports hoping to use live streaming and pay per view, as well as being offered as a higher end player/solution which will attract an ongoing charge in line with data costs and any customisation. As mentioned above, YouTube are also now offering live streaming to its partners but at this stage have no plans to release an encoding box, which is the strength of the RivusTV offering to our network.
Brightcove will also still be available to those clients who wish to continue using this facility.
hmmm sp gets to put more of their ads on our content
ReplyDeleteHi - thanks for the comment, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteIts actually a very interesting comment. The partnership allows SportingPulse a couple of dropzones in order to add links to clubs sites, and other pieces of hierarchy.
The ads - as in the past - are still served via YouTube. As such, the assertion that you're making here is not quite right; unless YouTube serving ads in the past has been an issue.
The reality is, its how Google keep their products free.
Thanks again - appreciate the feedback.
Andrew
Sorry - To be clear there are many benefits available to our partners as listed above (one of which is the skinning of players (as above).
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about the partnership is that SportingPulse is able to offer the same tools at grassroots level that until now, has only been available to elite YouTube sporting partners, such as the AFL and Cricket Australia.
So, signing a partnership agreement with YouTube is a fantastic win in partnership with our clients.
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteCan you please clarify what it means for Sportingpulse to "claim" the rights to our channel. What rights to you get and what rights do we lose?
Hi there - basically, YouTube controls your channel 100% at present. You use the tools that are allowed through your relationship with them.
ReplyDeleteSportingPulse now have an agreement with YouTube whereby we can add the extra benefits as listed to your channel by claiming back a % of the 'broadcast rights', if you like.
Admittedly its a clunky word; but claiming purely means you are choosing to partner with SportingPulse for a range of channel benefits.
So am i right that allowing youtube content to play directly onto a page is not a standard function for basic club websites.
ReplyDeleteI couldnt find information on how much the upgrade to allow this actually costs?
Hi Anon,
ReplyDeleteWe're in the process of working with the YouTube API to make embedding freely available at a high standard for anyone that partners with SportingPulse.
I'll blog shortly on some 'before and after' type scenarios; as we are now building some precedents in look and feel, embedding widgets and live streaming.
Its a great opportunity to get started now, as we want to build some great examples from across the network.
There will be no charge for embedding players into sites.