ShortForm’s VJ Channels Offer Playlists, Live VJ’ing

ShortForm is yet another VJ site featuring curation of videos from YouTube and Vimeo. However, unlike most such sites that offer either set playlists of videos, like Reelr.TV, or live video viewing, like Chill, ShortForm offers both options. In addition, the video channels are embeddable.

Yesterday I spoke with ShortForm CEO and Founder Nader Ghaffari who filled me in on what's happening with this video curation site that launched in November of 2010 and claimed 1 million unique viewers in July.

ShortForm started with curated channels that allow for ongoing additions to a potentially extensive playlist of videos from YouTube and Vimeo. Members can subscribe to video channels and, as you can see from the "All Time" channel stats (option to choose time periods in upper right corner), some of these channels have had an exceptional number of viewers with healthy average view times.

These channels can also be embedded on other sites with a recently introduced widget that gives you the option of creating your own channel or embedding channels created by other VJ's.

ShortForm now also offers live group viewing in the form of Live Parties that allow VJ's to run the show or share VJ duties with other participants.

Ghaffari explained that they have been choosing to focus on building both the VJ and viewership base while considering a variety of business models for the future. Additional development will include making ShortForm available on all screens including a version optimized for web-enabled televisions. Oddly enough, this is the first such startup I've encountered who is not only going mobile but also has plans for optimized tv viewing.

ShortForm is also promoting individual VJs on the site. Ghaffari wants Hypebot readers with a serious interest in VJing to consider developing thier brand on ShortForm.  If you're interested, you can contact their VP of Content via matt(at)shortform(dot)com and let him know that you want to be more than the average VJ!

It's going to be interesting to see how this space shakes out with so many contenders currently in action. A number of sites I've seen are well designed but ShortForm's commitment to reaching viewers on all screens and the fact that they have both synchronous (live) and asynchronous (playlist) options suggest that they will be exceptionally competitive in the days ahead.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. He is currently relaunching Flux Research to pursue his long-standing obsession with web business models. To suggest music services and related topics for review at Hypebot, please contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.