YouTube goes live

2008-11-23 19:50

Washington - YouTube broadcast its first live event on Saturday, an extravaganza which was part concert and part variety show and which drew comments from viewers ranging from "AWESOME!" to "train wreck".

The popular video-sharing internet site streamed a two-hour live broadcast at youtube.com/live featuring well- to lesser-known singers, dancers and video bloggers who became online celebrities through YouTube.

Filmed before a live audience at the Fort Mason Centre near San Francisco's famed Fisherman's Wharf, the show opened with a scantily clad Katy Perry performing her song Hot and Cold, a title which pretty much summed up the evening for the tens of thousands of users of the comments board.

Performers

Other performers included virtuoso guitarist Joe Satriani, who jammed with Funtwo, a guitarist whose YouTube video went viral in 2006 and made him into an online sensation, and hip-hop artist Soulja Boy Tell'Em.

Australia's Sick Puppies played onstage while Juan Mann, the man behind freehugscampaign.org who they immortalised in a video of their song All the Same, did what he does, handing out free hugs to members of the audience.

Other moments included YouTube tributes to itself and the role it played in the presidential election, serving as a favorite platform for videos by the campaigns and co-hosting debates with the CNN television network.

Star of the show

The star of the show was Grammy-award winning musician will.i.am of the Black-Eyed Peas, whose song Yes We Can in tribute to Democratic candidate Barack Obama has been viewed nearly 14 million times on YouTube.

Will.i.am performed It's A New Day, the song he released following Obama's victory in the November 4 presidential election over Republican John McCain.

Also making an appearance on stage was San Francisco Gavin Newsom while Queen Rania of Jordan appeared in a videotaped message to receive the first YouTube Visionary Award.

Queen Rania, the wife of King Abdullah II, launched her own YouTube channel in April "dedicated to breaking down stereotypes about the Arab and Muslim worlds and to bridging the East-West divide".

YouTube's first foray into live broadcasting comes as the Google-owned website tries to cash in on its popularity by letting advertisers "sponsor" videos and bid on key words people use for searches on the site.

Google purchased YouTube for $1.65bn in 2006, but has been moving slowly to "monetize" the site out of concern it might irk notoriously transient web surfers who could easily switch to rival video-sharing sites.

- AFP