The Ustream Blog » John Ham, Founder

Go Ustream!

John Ham, Founder — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:18:42 +0000

My Dearest Ustreamers,

Hope all is well. Today, we announced an additional financing of $6m from our existing lead investors, Softbank and DCM. The timing is perfect for the company and for me to announce that I will be returning to my entrepreneurial roots.

I want to say from the bottom of my heart that I love Ustream. I thank everyone for their support over the past 4.5 years. Ustream is about allowing anyone to broadcast live over the Internet while interacting with their family, friends, fans or following.

I will stay on as Chairman of the Board and continue to support the Company.

Keep streaming Ustreamers.

Sincerely and humbly,

John Ham
Ustream Founder

Ustream seals Joint Venture with Korea Telecom for Ustream Korea with $10m investment

John Ham, Founder — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:01:33 +0000

Ustreamers,

Hope all is well. Today, we are happy to announce that Ustream has reached an agreement with Korea Telecom to launch Ustream Korea as part of our Joint Venture for Ustream Asia with Softbank Corp. in Japan. Korea Telecom will also invest an additional $10m into the company.

More importantly, we are excited to continue to march toward our vision of bringing the Ustream service to Asia in a steadfast and unwavering manner over a long period of time.

We thank our wonderful users and look forward to growing the Ustream service in Korea.

Best,

John

Ustream Inc. announces Joint Venture with Softbank for Ustream Asia

John Ham, Founder — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:43:29 +0000

Dear Ustreamers,

Hope all is well. Today, Ustream Inc. announced our joint venture with Softbank Corp for Ustream Asia. This is a significant milestone for the company as it cements our long-term commitment for the broader Asian market. From the day we founded the company, we always said that Asia was strategic for Ustream. Asia represents an environment where the broadband, mobile, and users conditions are prime for a service like Ustream to flourish. As a result, we are very excited about today’s announcement.

Go Ustream and Go Ustream Asia!

John

Ustream Enters Asia Pacific with Softbank Corp. of Japan

John Ham, Founder — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:51:37 +0000

In this memorable milestone and moment, I would like to provide the color behind the fundraising announcement.

When we first founded Ustream in the summer of 2006, we believed that Asia was a strategic environment for a service like Ustream to flourish. Since then, we’ve made strategic decisions to partner with DCM, our lead series A investor and strong US/Asia VC firm, and now Softbank Corp., a major mobile carrier and internet conglomerate in Asia, to march toward our vision.

What really excites us is the vision that billions of web and mobile users will go-live and watch-live content on Ustream in Asia.

We’re honored to announce this relationship with Softbank and look forward to working with Softbank.

‘Stand Up and Take Action!’ with Ustream, Skype and the UN Millennium Campaign

John Ham, Founder — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:06:21 +0000

Ustream was created to enable video communication opportunities for
anyone, and this week we’re powering some important global
conversations that aim to end poverty. We are partnering with the
United Nations Millenium Campaign to foster conversations about the
most important issues facing our generation during “Stand Up and Take
Action!,” the annual mobilization where citizens gather at events
around the world to demand that world leaders eradicate extreme
poverty by 2015.

As part of the program, Ustream is collaborating with Skype to enable
video calls about global poverty between world leaders, celebrities
and citizens globally to be broadcast on the internet live via
Ustream’s interactive video broadcasting platform. The Skype calls
taking place between world leaders, celebrities, and citizens globally
will be broadcast on the Stand Up Take Action! page on Facebook and on
Ustream here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/stand-up-against-poverty

Those participating in the Skype video calls and Ustream broadcasts
include former Irish President Mary Robinson as well as African
entertainers Femi Kuti and Angelique Kidjo. The calls will take place
throughout this week, leading up to the Stand Up and Take Action!
Weekend, Oct. 16-18, when millions of citizens will take part in
activities demanding that world leaders keep their promises to achieve
the Millenium Development Goals.

We hope you will join in the conversations through Facebook, Social
Stream (Twitter) or Ustream chat.To learn more about getting involved
in Stand Up and Take Action events happening across the globe, please
visit www.standagainstpoverty.org.

“Ustream on Facebook” Expands Live Video to Social Networks

John Ham, Founder — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:39:20 +0000

We’re excited to announce today a big step for Ustream: the availability of a new “Ustream on Facebook” program that offers artists and brands the opportunity to provide live streaming video with the Facebook Live Stream Box integrated within Facebook Pages. This enables new ways for artists and brands to engage their fans in direct dialogue. The Ustream on Facebook experience was first pioneered with a trio of Jonas Brothers events celebrating the release of “Lines, Vines and Trying
Times” earlier this month, which received enthusiastic fan response. Some stats from the May 28 webcast:

· 1.5 million unique posts were made via Facebook Live Feed
· 23K average posts per minute
· More than 100K users joined the webcast after seeing their friend’s comment on Facebook
· 974K total unique viewers watched the one hour webcast
· Ustream reports the Jonas Brothers webcast on Facebook surpassed the largest live video event they have hosted for any music artist

Artists who have a Facebook Page can activate a live audience on a
live tab within their profile, and viewers have an easy experience
because they can stay on Facebook to participate in the live video
chat.

“Millions of people watch high quality live streaming from major
brands and events on Ustream,” said Josh Elman, Platform program
manager, Facebook. “We’re excited that they can now interact with
their Facebook friends while watching an integrated Ustream and
Facebook Live Stream experience on Facebook Pages and in the future on Ustream.com using Facebook Connect.”

“The Jonas Brothers events proved to us that providing the technology
that enables fans to connect with each other and their favorite
artists is a very powerful experience for everyone involved,” said
John Ham, Ustream founder and CEO. “We look forward to delivering
similar events for artists who want to connect with their fans in a
turnkey way.”

For more information visit ustream.tv/facebooklive; to apply, go to
ustream.tv/facebooklive/apply.

Best, John

Ustream’s Puppycam wins Webby Award in NYC

John Ham, Founder — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:37:27 +0000

In October of 2008, 6 Shiba Inu puppies went live on Ustream and 8 months later they’ve attracted over 18 million unique viewers for a total of over 800 viewing years which makes them “the most watched video in the history of the internet.”

Last week, the Puppycam also won a Webby Award. See the Puppycam video here: Puppycam video See the 5-word acceptance speech here: 5-word acceptance speech

Unfortunately, the Shiba family and pups could not make the trip to NYC. It would have been fun. Anyhow, here’s to congratulating Puppycam on another amazing accomplishment in internet history!

Undoubtedly, they are the most popular dogs (no longer pups) on the internet.

Best, John

Ustream partners with Katalyst Media

John Ham, Founder — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:44:16 +0000

Today, Ustream announces a partnership with Katalyst Media. Katalyst Media is an innovative media company founded by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg that produced MTV’s Punk’d, Beauty and the Geek, and the movie The Butterfly Effect to name a few.

We’re excited to be working with Ashton, Jason, and the Katalyst Team. We’re looking forward to both the journey as well as the common vision of bringing new media experiences to the web.

Ashton shares Twitter race win on Ustream

John Ham, Founder — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:20:33 +0000

Tonight, Friday April 17th, 2009 at approximately 10:45 pm PT Ashton turned on Ustream to mobilize his Twitter follower base as well as to share in both the race leading up to one million as well as the celebratory moment that followed. Many gathered to share the moment together.

In case you missed it, the recording is at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1394392

It showed that as moments happen in our lives that if we care to share, we now can. Thanks to Ashton for sharing the moment.

Congratulations to Ashton Kutcher for being the first person on Twitter to reach 1 million followers!

Watershed adds Mobile

John Ham, Founder — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:49:57 +0000

Watershed now offers white-label, live mobile broadcasting applications under flexible pricing options. Now businesses can enable, live mobile broadcasting under their brand while minimizing typical capex or licensing fees by leveraging Watershed flexible pricing.

Watershed Mobile is:
1. Truly live – low-latency
2. Interactive – Yes/No polling and real-time chat
3. GPS enabled
4. Twitter enabled – leverage your following

Watershed also is noting recent customer to include Oracle, Duke University, Sun Microsystems, UC Berkeley, and Sling Media. Enterprises appreciate simple webcasts and simple pricing.

Watershed also is introducing monthly plans as an additional pricing option for those who have predictable usage and would like additional savings.

Watershed (http://watershed.ustream.tv)