Live video takes off on sites like Justin.tv and Ustream.tv

— -- Looking for something fun to watch online? How about a live video view of Christmas tree lights or an amateur Italian band rehearsing in the basement as it's happening?

If those offerings on Ustream.tv don't grab you, there's always the Florida sunset from contributor Don Browne's patio on Justin.tv, or tech blogger Robert Scoble's video test of a new Nokia phone, streamed from his cellphone in Barcelona.

Online video used to mean prerecorded and edited clips on YouTube and other video-sharing sites. But as the year comes to a close, one of the fastest-growing trends is showcasing live video on websites such as Justin.tv, Ustream.tv and Mogulus and via cellphone at Qik and Kyte.

"Live broadcasting was something only done by the rich news organizations," says Michael Seibel, CEO of San Francisco-based start-up Justin.tv. "So when you bring it to the masses, the public gets really excited."

According to measurement service Quantcast, Justin.tv attracted 11 million visitors in November, compared with Ustream's 5.6 million and Mogulus' 2.1 million. That's a far cry from YouTube's 71 million, but the sites are seeing traffic nearly double. Justin.tv had just under 6 million visitors in October, and Ustream, 3 million.

Both Justin and Ustream are geared toward consumers, while Mogulus (partially owned by Gannett, publisher of USA TODAY) targets consumers and businesses. About 7 million folks watched Ustream.tv's live webcasts of the Republican National Convention in September; nearly 100,000 tuned in to Mogulus' live streams on election night.

"It's live, anything can happen, and the editorial filter has been lifted," says John Ham, co-founder of Ustream.

Aggregating an audience

For the Web-based live video sites, anybody who ever wanted to host a TV show can do it with an Internet-connected computer and a webcam.

Much of the live streaming is targeted at niche audiences. But multiply a lot of mini-niches several times, and these companies could potentially end up with huge aggregate audiences, says Max Haot, CEO of Mogulus. "Everyone loves content that's relevant to them," he says.