Start Your Own Internet TV Show

Written by: pearlofafrika • Edited by: Michele McDonough
Published Dec 8, 2008 • Related Guides: YouTube | MySpace

With the advent of the internet and web cameras, anyone can have their own reality show. The hardest part of creating a tv show is finding the audience, because it's never been easier to create professional shows. Keep reading to find out how to start your own tv show.

The internet is a burgeoning environment for any one with a web camera and a dream of stardom. Instead of being discovered on benches in Paris parks, celebrities are now found on sites like YouTube or MySpace. The technology that creates our globalization is both accessible and inexpensive. Any one hoping to start an internet TV show needs to have high speed access to the internet, a web camera or mobile phone camera, and a distinct point of view. The internet audience is notoriously fickle, and won't tolerate repetition.

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The main component in creating an internet TV show is finding the right platform to broadcast yourself. The first platform that comes to mind is the ubiquitous YouTube, who's byline is "Broadcast yourself". The billion dollar company, YouTube, made a name for itself in 2005 and is now one of the top entertainment websites on the internet. YouTube's appeal lies in its popularity. You should choose YouTube if you're looking to reach a wide audience, from highly experienced internet users, to internet novices.

One of the drawbacks of YouTube is that it limits the size of your broadcast. Videos cannot exceed ten minutes in length, and must be under 1 GB in size. Another drawback is that the user must first record a video externally and then upload to the YouTube site. YouTube does not permit live recording through its site.

Two lesser known, but comparable sites, are UStream.tv and Kyte.tv. These sites actually surpass YouTube in a couple of ways. First, they both allow you to record videos directly to the website, and second, you can broadcast your videos in real time.

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UStream.tv has a healthy viewership, with over 10 million hits per month. Throughout the 2008 Election season, many politicians used this site to quickly interact with the American voters. This site is very easy to use. Setting up your internet TV show is as simple as registering for free, plugging in your camera, and clicking a few buttons. Go to this site (http://www.ustream.tv/get-started) to sign up. After signing in, you can broadcast live through UStream, or you can get the HTML code to embed on your website or blog. UStream offers a dedicated chat room so that you can interact with your visitors in real time while broadcasting. Also, you can download your videos and possibly upload them on YouTube for wider concentration.

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Kyte.tv is very similar to YouTube and UStream, but it is probably the most versatile of the three. It allows wide distribution over MySpace, Facebook, WordPress, Blogger, or your own website. A great feature for Kyte is subscription service. If you want your visitors to pay for your TV show, Kyte provides you with those resources. You can monetize your videos other ways, also, by adding advertisements to your video, or offering space on your dedicated video channel to sponsors. Kyle also has the ability to add music to the videos, with an impressive music library of up-to-date artists.

Try all three sites, and find the one that works best for your purposes.