Live streaming service Hang w/ hit Apple’s App Store in late March and has accrued 100,000 users, including several notable celebrities, and 2 million user sessions over the past six weeks.
Andrew Maltin, the CEO of Hang w/ developer MEDL Mobile, noted in a blog post that the app’s trajectory has been better than expected. The app had 50,000 users and 550,000 user sessions three weeks after its soft launch.
“This proves that fans will rush in droves to Hang With their favorite celebrities and friends. And that once they arrive, they tell more people about it. Now we can start to put some marketing muscle behind it,” Maltin said.
The company’s president, Dave Swartz, called the numbers “phenomenal” when matched up against the hundreds of apps that MEDL has released.
The ad-supported app lets users sign up as broadcasters to share three minutes of live-streaming video of what they’re up to. Streams can be shared to Facebook or Twitter. Unlike Upfront, which was released on Thursday, Hang w/ allows anyone to start live-streaming and start connecting with viewers.
Hang w/ launched first on iPhone, but MEDL Mobile says an Android app is coming in the second quarter.
The company touts Soulja Boy, Terrell Owens, Jamie Kennedy, Ali Landry and Cheech and Chong as among its registered broadcasters. MEDL offers to help secure branded sponsorships for influencers looking to monetize the platform.
I found the service to be fairly noisy, and it’s clear that the app is in its infancy. The celebrity draw is certainly an appeal, but most of the profiles I saw were inappropriate selfies from people that I wasn’t interested in following. Judging by the current crop of people in the Broadcasting Now section, the service appeals to the amateur webcam crowd.
Still, Hang w/ does have potential to be an easy lifestreaming solution. 100,000 users isn’t exactly massive in today’s mobile market, but it does represent solid initial traction. Assuming that celebrities continue to flock to the platform and stream content, MEDL should have no problem rapidly growing its user base.
Image credit: MIXA
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