If you watch sports, usually the only good videos of the crowd come from the ‘kiss cam’ at the stadium or whatever panoramic shot a producer finds eyeball-worthy. You’d also know that everyone on the ground is taking their own videos and sending them right to Instagram and SnapChat. Bryant McBride, CEO and co-founder of Burst, wanted to make it easy for broadcasters to grab those videos and use them on live television. Here’s how it works, according to a statement from the company:
This authentic, [user generated] video gets curated and approved by a tapeAD and then directly integrated into the EVS system in the live broadcast production truck. UGC video can be seen on the live broadcast within a few minutes of the consumer sending it to the media company. When a fan submits video from their smartphone, they check a box agreeing to be subject to the media company’s terms and conditions – effectively giving an ownership right of that video to the media company who can legally monetize and repurpose it free and clear.
This summer, Burst partnered with NESN. Using the Burst app and platform, Red Sox fans took their videos in the app, uploaded them to the cloud, and the network sifted through them using the platform and used them in the live-broadcast.
Before harnessing user generated content for networks, Burst was a “consumer facing product that was really designed to deliver mobile video with precision to private brands,” says McBride. They started talking to broadcasters and found that there was a little frustration about paying for the broadcasting rights and watching fans record the games on their phones anyway.
So, live sports was the place to start. Burst has signed multi-year deals with regional Fox Sports networks; you might have seen the “social highlight” during the NLCS. They’ll also be using Burst during the World Series.
If anything, it’s about engagement with the fanbase. Fox is using the user videos on their website. Radio Disney, who’s also partnered with Burst, used the technology to release a special fan video for Colbie Caiilet’s “Try.” They’re staring pilot programs with Tribune Publishing and Turner Broadcasting. For brands or broadcasters, McBride sees the platform allowing news organizations to cut to user generated video instead of an expensive cameraman halfway around the world or collect authentic consumer reactions content and products. He says:
So much of what we do is workflow – making it dead simple and utterly smooth for people to take the video anywhere and fifteen seconds later get it up on the live broadcast. We want to be the bridge between mobile video and television.
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