Growing up in Belgium, Max Haot, 38, was enamored with the excitement and immediacy of live video productions. His interest led to working for the TV division of IMG in London and then leading the company’s interactive division. But his passion for live video remained, and in 2007 Haot created Livestream (originally called Mogulus) with three co-founders.
“Our timing was, to some extent, a little early,” he says “We would tell people we are democratizing live video and we’re going to help anyone with an event to live stream. But not everybody understood why it was important for marketers and event owners to share an event live online.”
Then smartphones came onto the scene. Suddenly people were perpetually connected to the Internet, and the power of real-time video became obvious. The company now provides a comprehensive set of hardware and software tools to connect people and live events. Livestream reports it has more than 40 million viewers each month, watching events from customers such as The New York Times, Facebook, and ESPN.
In the past year, as the buzz around live video has grown thanks to options from Twitter, Facebook, and others, Livestream has turned its attention to creating a simple, affordable solution that provides better production values than just streaming from a phone. The result is Mevo (originally called Movi), a 2.5-inch device the company unveiled at C.E.S. that is the first camera to stream directly to Facebook Live. The pocket-size device links with an iOS app that controls up to nine virtual high-definition cameras and enables live editing. “Our big new bet and our big innovation is definitely Mevo. Even with our existing products, it’s still a little too complicated to do multi-camera, to make it look good, to make it look like TV. We think Mevo is the breakthrough that all the people who wish they could do live streaming of events have been waiting for.”
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In May 2015, Haot recruited Jesse Hertzberg, formerly of Squarespace and Etsy, to succeed him as C.E.O. Haot, now senior vice president and general manager of video products, says the move allows him to focus on getting Mevo to market and accelerating the company’s growth. “The way we look at it, and the way every event owner that’s tried this sees it, you can’t replace the experience at the event. But it’s to some extent the best form of advertising,” Haot says. “You are engaged, you are watching, you are learning about the brand, you are seeing the content. That all makes you want to go [to future events].”
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