Silverlight Usage Rises, Buoyed by France TV, NBC Olympics
Adoption of Microsoft Silverlight streaming tools are on the rise, including use by France TV, Microsoft’s Senior Director Tom Honeybone told Beet.TV during an interview at Microsoft’s Seattle headquarters. The French broadcaster’s coverage of the French Open was the first use of the latest iteration of Silverlight, called “Silverlight Smooth Streaming.” The technology adjusts video delivery in real-time based on the bandwidth of the computer where it’s being viewed. The capability competes with similar technology from Adobe. “Customers say when they use Silverlight, they get more users and they spend more time on their sites,” Honeybone said. “There has been a lot of research that shows the better the quality of the video the more time people spend on the site.” Also, more time spent can yield more ad dollars. The best known use of Silverlight has been for NBC’s online Olympics coverage last summer, which generated 40% more traffic and 9 times more minutes spent than competitive sites, Honeybone said. NBC will reportedly use Silverlight for the 2010 Olympics. NBC’s streaming coverage last year was considered a success. Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer