It Has Come a Long Way

Today marks the funeral for the worlds beloved “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson. Due to the global outcry of grief, I’m sure the family likely thought it best that everyone have an opportunity to pay their respects while being a part of this once in a lifetime event. Even though I wasn't watching the funeral, it seemed as if the rest of the world was. Streaming video links of the funeral are front page stories on all the major media outlets and I can’t have a decent conversation with anyone on Facebook because all they want to do is comment on the service. Feeling left with no other option, I briefly tuned in to watch R&B crooner Usher sing a tearful rendition of MJ’s “Gone to Soon”. After his performance, it made me think about how far streaming video has come over the years and I decided to do a little research.

Streaming video has been around since the 1990’s, but really didn’t take off until the early 2000’s. The technology has made great strides over the years as bandwidth and internet access has increased and is quickly solidifying its place as a conventional form of mass media. While it still has a long way to go (as today's video feed was choppy, as are most) no one can deny that never before has the world seen such a great level of connectivity and reliance upon this technology. For example, during President Obama’s Inauguration, CNN.com LIVE served 13.9 million live video streams globally between 6:00 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. By 6:00 p.m., the number had grown to over 25 million! This was an amazing feat for CNN.com and with this type of volume; one could only imagine how many people watched the coverage on other global media outlets. Today, within a matter of seconds, I counted over 20 websites offering live, streaming funeral coverage. I wonder if we’ll ever know how many streaming videos of MJ’s funeral were launched. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know if MJ pulled a bigger crowd than the nation’s first black president?



References:
1. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=98845
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media