X
2012

AOL To Transform Huffington Post Into Live Online Streaming Network

February 6, 2012 0

New York — In an attempt to keep pace with the escalating competition in the online arena, AOL Inc., which acquired Huffington Post last year, over the weekend announced plans to launch its own online video streaming network this summer with 12 hours of new programming every day on the Huffington Post and AOL websites and on televisions via Sony Inc.’s PlayStation and devices from Roku Inc. and Boxee Inc., the company said Thursday.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, HuffPost co-founder Arianna Huffington and network chief Roy Sekoff gave demonstration to reporters of the Huffington Post Streaming Network in New York, and promised a “game-changing” concept predicated on engagement. The network will be accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets TVs, Huffington said. It will provide an array of coverage, ranging from politics to celebrity news.

The HuffPost Streaming Network, described as ‘more intuitive and interactive’ than television, is expected to launch this summer, Huffington said in a blog post. At launch, the network will live-stream 12 hours of original, live programming five days a week, which will gradually be increased to 16 hours by the end of 2013.

“The network will be developed around segments spotlighting the biggest, hottest, most captivating stories HuffPost is covering at any given moment and adopting them as the jumping-off points for conversations, commentary, and comedy,” Huffington wrote in a blog post. These bits and pieces will be as long — or as short — as they need to be. We would not be restricted by the usual time constraints of TV.

Moving forward, the service, which will be managed by Roy Sekoff, the founding editor of the Huffington Post, will feature live streaming video for 12 hours a day during the week from 9 a.m to 9 p.m., which will be produced in AOL’s New York City and LA studios by a staff of 100 employees.

Apart from that, the target audience will consists of the main HuffPo website while catering to mobile devices. Sekoff described the content as “a never-ending talk show” that will “reflect the Internet experience,” according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

“This is absolutely dissimilar to anything that is out there,” he said. “We hope to capture the beautiful chaos of everything on the web.”

The network, which is expected to launch in early summer of 2012, aims to create 30,000 on-demand clips. Besides, those behind the new video network hope it will be “the most social video experience anywhere,” Huffington said.

Describing the new network she said–“People are not concerned about being talked at anymore — they want to be part of the conversation.” And a big part of what HuffPost Streaming Network will do is help facilitate those conversations.

Moreover, AOL said the new network will be available on several streaming media platforms, such as Roku, Boxee, Google TV, Playstation, and others. The company also said its open to the possibility of launching a cable network further down the line, according to the report.

Huffington is hoping that the network will stimulate engagement with the audience and an online conversation, as has become a staple of HuffPost with its tens of thousands of reader comments a day. HuffPost now draws 36.2 million unique visitors a month and drew as many as 6 million comments in just one month.

“Our objective is to simply make this better and better — there is no number we are looking at to see how successful this becomes,” Huffington said in an interview after the presentation.