Shovio Combines Interactivity of Radio with Online Video

"What we wanted to do was bring a new level of interactivity to broadcasting and allow a new channel of interactivity," says JJ Astro about his new creation, Shovio.com, which launched yesterday.

Shovio (pronounced "show-vio") is an interactive streaming video platform where show hosts can combine video clips and still images with audio and video callers, to create a live multimedia program. So far, it's also a forum for established radio hosts to create a more personal experience with their viewers.



"The entire platform is built on a sophisticated social networking platform and that will allow our viewers to interact with viewer-to-viewer interactions—with instant messaging, and audio and video—as well as interact with the host," says Astro.

Astro began thinking about the platform three years ago, but has to wait for technology and comfort levels with online media to evolve. Once he had created a rough version of the service, he showed it to radio host Leslie Gold, better known as the Radio Chick.

"When I saw it, it was in rawer form, but I was immediately blown away by it," says Gold. "I had a visceral reaction to it, because it presented like TV but it had the interactivity and spontaneity of radio."

Gold soon joined Astro as one of the service's creators, suggesting refinements that would make Shovio more friendly to broadcasters. She also showed the service to other radio hosts.

The service has been under soft launch for two months, while Gold and other hosts helm their shows and work any bugs out of the system (Gold's show runs weekdays from 3 to 5 p.m. EST). Shovio has a staff of about 10 "doing the work of 20," says Gold, and has received angel funding. The company will be seeking greater funding as it goes forward.

One thing that impresses Gold with Shovio is that distance is no longer a barrier. All that's needed is a connection and a webam.

"Your guests can be anywhere. If I could manage to book it, I could book Madonna in Malawi while she's picking up another kid, as long as she could get in front of a webcam," says Gold.

Shovio is free for viewers, who only need to create an account. The site is launching with a professional channel of hand-picked veteran radio personalities. This pro channel will be ad-supported. Next month the company will launch an amateur channel, where anyone can broadcast for what Astro insists will be an extremely low fee. The technical requirements will be low here as well. While a professional show like Gold's uses a production board, sound effects, and multiple cameras, an amateur will be able to broadcast with Shovio using only a connected computer and a webcam.

Broadcasters can add images as well as M4V, MP4, or FLV video to their shows. Video calls can be presented with a picture-in-picture effect. The service offers adaptive bitrate Flash streaming, and completed shows are available for download in the archive. Gold's show averaged 30,000 to 40,000 viewers per day during the soft launch, not bad for a platform that wasn't getting press. The service is scalable, says Astro, and will be able to handle millions of concurrent connections.

For Gold, creating a multimedia show has it's own challenges: "What's hard for me is putting on make-up and being on camera," she says. "Coming mostly from radio, I have to remember before I get in the studio to go in the bathroom and put on makeup, so I don't look like death warmed over before I go on camera.

Still, it's worth it for the new view of her audience that she gets from taking video calls. It's a personal angle that can take the show in unexpected directions."I had a caller who was calling in on a particular topic. His nickname is 'Sexual Vanilla.' He's a grown man and he called in and his bed was unmade, so my eye was drawn to that. I don't remember what his call was about, but it became about having a grown man and it's three o'clock in the afternoon and his bed is still unmade," Gold says.

If you're going to make a video call to Shovio to take part in a new level of streaming video interactivity, please remember to tidy up a little first.