International: Zattoo has one million registered users
Zurich, 3 Oktober 2007. – Zattoo, the American-Swiss IPTV start-up, has reached a first major user milestone: One million registered users are now using Zattoo to watch TV on their computers. Zattoo is currently available in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Denmark, and Belgium. Further launches are planned in the next few months.
In Switzerland, where Zattoo launched more than a year ago, over 465’000 people are now using Zattoo for their TV-watching experience. Since launching in Spain in July 2007 435’000 users have registered for Zattoo. In Germany, where Zattoo launched in mid-September, there are currently 80’000 users. Further 25’000 users are watching TV via Zattoo in Denmark and Belgium. 70% of the Zattoo users are between 18 to 45 years old. Three quarters of the users are male. Zattoo users are technology-savvy and well-connected. They use Zattoo not as a substitute for the classic TV, but as a complement and an extension. 30% say that they use Zattoo to follow the news or a sports event while working on their computer. 22% watch TV with Zattoo because they don’t own a TV, 18% use it because they’re in a different place than their TV, and 14% because the TV is already occupied.
Zattoo was founded in 2005 by Sugih Jamin, professor for computer science at the University of Michigan, and Beat Knecht, software product marketing professional and former McKinsey consultant. The company offers a state-of-the-art, commercial peer-to-peer (P2P) network optimized for streaming video, developed by leading researchers and scientists from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), that is uniquely capable of serving the specific needs of consumers, broadcasters, content owners, and advertisers. Contrary to conventional P2P systems which are used for sharing stored files, Zattoo uses a real-time P2P approach: the live-streaming starts with a click on the button.
In March 2007 Red Herring named Zattoo a finalist of Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year. Zattoo plans to finance itself mainly by showing advertising when the user switches channels.
What is Zattoo?
Zattoo is a legal new TV distribution service transmitting the world’s most popular channels in unprecedented quality onto users’ computers. Zattoo is free and works without hardware. Users download the software, the Zattoo player from the company website and can watch TV for free on their computers within minutes. The Zattoo player is available for most current operating systems (Windows XP and Vista, Mac and Linux).
Zattoo partners with broadcasters to serve consumers with a wide selection of TV channels in one easy-to-use interface. Zattoo clears all necessary rights to retransmit the TV channels it distributes, in accordance with local copyright and broadcasting laws.
Zattoo has offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan (USA) and Zurich, Switzerland.
For further information:
Helen Schoch
+41 79 676 94 92
press@zattoo.com
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