Item: IBM Video Streaming
Rating: 10
Author: Chris McBride

Implementation Rating

We have been very pleased with the service from the beginning, and it gets better every year! It has really helped us stand out in our industry and provide a great viewer experience for our clients and their families.

Usability

The integration with Wirecast and the ease of which Ustream adapts to multiple bit-rates has been a huge help to us, especially when we have to use an LTE data connection to broadcast content.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We produce competitive dance events all over America, and we have used Ustream since 2012 to broadcast our events to family and friends of the students performing on stage. We have had up to 6 concurrent events at the same time, and are known in the industry for our free andhigh-qualityy event broadcasts (usually 2-3 days over the weekend, but as many as 5 for very large events - many from 7AM to 11PM per day).

Pros and Cons

Excellent reliability - as long as you have a good upstream bandwidth, Ustream is exceptionally stable and glitch-free.
The service works with a wide array of software and encoding methods. We use Telestream Wirecast with excellent results.
We worked with Ustream engineers to develop a custom fall-back solution when the events were over, so live content was playing even when we were off air from the shows.

Price - we are not a huge organization and only broadcast for 6-7 months out of the year. The annual plan with quarterly payments is helpful, but a plan that offered a more granular fee structure would be beneficial for us.
Better embed options for social media.

IBM Cloud Video Business Outcomes

We have attracted new clients over the 5 years we have broadcasted with Ustream - no commercials and being able to brand our stream has helped us look more attractive in the market compared to our competitors. People are thrilled to see their family/friends perform live, especially with the adaptive bit-rates and mobile video implementation - people have a great experience viewing our events.

Likelihood to Recommend

Ustream works exceptionally well for our use case - live, long-form events. I could even see it as a base for a small "network" for niche audiences. I think it would also work well for conferences, seminars, etc.

I do not see it as a good alternative to Skype, Zoom, GoTo Meeting, etc.

You-stream, I-stream, we all love USTREAM!

Software Version

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Cloud Video (including Ustream)