Online broadcaster Justin.tv to remove archives June 8

Published June 2, 2014 10:56am

Users of online broadcast site Justin.tv will have to start saving their archived videos elsewhere, as the site will be removing its archiving function in one week's time.

In a blog post, Justin.tv said it came to the decision after learning that a big chunk of its recorded content was unwatched or rarely watched.

"So, taking into consideration the above findings and countless discussions, we have concluded to remove all archiving after June 8, 2014. This means that live broadcasts will no longer be recorded," it said.

"We understand that archiving can be a very essential element for our broadcasters. We also understand that there are some community members who enjoy catching up on a past broadcast they missed. However, as a live video website, we want to put our focus on our live video delivery system, as this has received the most usage," it added.

It said that over the past few months, its staff reviewed data on its archive and VOD (Video on Demand) system.

The staff found more than half of VODs are unwatched with 0 or 1 total views, while the vast majority are rarely watched with 10 or less views.

"Even when adding the direct upload to YouTube functionality, we found this feature was seldom used. It’s quite clear: JTV is a home for live broadcasts. Viewers come to justin.tv because they want to consume content and interact with their communities in real-time," the site said.

The site said it has put together guides on how a broadcaster can record a broadcast locally on their end.

A separate report on tech site Mashable said Justin.tv is one of the Web's most popular video-streaming sites, and will effectively be deleting years of archived video content.

But it also noted the development came amid rumors this month that YouTube is in talks acquire Twitch.tv, Justin.tv's spinoff video-game streaming site, for $1 billion.

Mashable cited figures from audience-measurement company Quantcast showing Justin.tv attracts nearly five million unique visitors per month, while Twitch.tv has nearly 38 million.

"(T)hese numbers suggest Justin.tv's future is in video-game streams, rather than personal-video uploads. Supporting this notion is the fact that the company officially changed its name to Twitch Interactive, Inc. in February," it said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News

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