NBC News Uses Watchitoo to Power Interactive Online Election Night Webcast
Watchitoo launches social collaboration platform
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Watchitoo, a leader in real-time social collaboration, has launched its enterprise-class platform, which was selected by NBC to power a live online discussion of election night issues and developments on MSNBC.com. On November 2 viewers participated in a live, interactive chat at www.electionday.msnbc.com. Using Watchitoo's innovative collaboration platform, MSNBC.com provided viewers the opportunity to join the discussion via webcam and provide their perspective via chat and Twitter.
"By embedding Watchitoo's player on the MSNBC.com site, we were able to give our viewers an interactive platform to ask questions and air viewpoints, with each other and our experts," said Ryan Osborn, director of social media at NBC News.
Viewers who logged on were able to chat and tweet their questions and comments as MSNBC.com covered election night developments. MSNBC.com producers identified participants to join the conversation and moved them to the "virtual green room" to wait their turn to activate their webcams and join the online broadcast.
How Does It Work?
Watchitoo, which launched today, allows users to interact with others via web cam and chat while collaborating in real time. This all takes place in a synchronized environment within the web browser that can be customized with any branding. Key features of the Watchitoo platform include high-def recording/archiving, screen-sharing, real-time moderation, "hand-raising" to pose questions, white-boarding, text/video chat, full Twitter integration, and direct Facebook posting. Watchitoo can be embedded on any website and does not require any download to start using and interacting.
"With the rise of blogs and social networks, no one is content to simply watch history as it unfolds. Today, we want to document it, talk about it, and shape the way it is covered," said Rony Zarom, CEO, Watchitoo. "NBC made this possible on Election Day by leveraging Watchitoo's collaboration capabilities and multistreaming technology. Now, anyone with a web browser can log in, be heard, and interact.”
Programming on Watchitoo can be made open to the public or privatized for a specific audience. Watchitoo is ideal for internal enterprise business meetings, panel discussions, live performances, education, political campaigning, media broadcasting, or any situation where a group of geographically dispersed individuals needs to collaborate quickly and easily while sharing media.
Pricing and Availability
Watchitoo is available today in three versions. The free version offers the collaboration and content sharing that the two premium models offer, but restrictions are placed on the time-length of meetings, the number of participants who can join, and the size of files that can be uploaded. The premium offerings, MeetingPro 25 and MeetingPro 50, cost $39 and $49 per month respectively and include a more robust feature set with tools like an Audio Bridge, Recording and Editing, Screen Sharing, Post-Meeting Analytics, and more. Watchitoo offers a 25% discount for customers who pay annually. Watchitoo also offers a highly scalable event product that includes the same feature set as the premium versions, but can support thousands of viewers for a one-time event. Pricing is based on number of viewer hours streamed and can vary per event.
About Watchitoo
New York-based Watchitoo provides an embeddable, live multistreaming platform that allows multiple participants to see and hear one another in real time, collaborate around any form of rich media, and be viewed by an audience scalable into the thousands. For more information, visit www.watchitoo.com.
CONTACT:
Media Strategies
Liora Bram, 617-202-9854
lbram@msipr.com
or
Media Strategies
Cheryl Delgreco, 617-723-4004
cdelgreco@msipr.com
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