Stickam, the social network that incorporates webcams and live streaming, has its eye on business as well. Today, Stickam released its StreamAPI, a new platform for businesses to create their own custom video player, chatroom, and video stream.
Stickam's StreamAPI is a white-label service that bases its competitive advantage on its ease-of-use, customization features, and price. This is different from the old API, which was Stickam branded and limited in customization.
First, the customization platform: it's slick. The customization features are extensive. Within the platform, you can choose the positioning of chats, images, logos, streams, and more. The colors and even the buttons are customizable. It's as intuitive to build as drag-and-drop. As a plus, using the StreamAPI does not require any knowledge of flash.
StreamAPI has solid analytics on user behavior and viewer hours within the app, important for businesses that need to know about their rate of return or for tracking user engagement. It also supports HD video, which is becoming more and more prominent in the online space.
The StreamAPI costs 45 cents per GB streamed, meaning that the quality of the stream will dictate the price. The low end, according to Stickam, will end up costing about 5 cents per viewer hour. But for the high end (think HD video), it's going to cost you a lot more.
Stickam's API is ideal for video conversations and for major brands to interact with fans via the chat. It's relatively simple to build a full-featured, completely custom video player. If you want to see the new Stickam API in action, take a look at the custom player in use by the popular rock band The Killers:
