SplashCast designed widgets that were capable of aggregating different forms of multimedia.  This included audio, video, RSS feeds, and photos.  Later on the company launched a new service called Social TV that allowed users to watch TV shows on Facebook and MySpace.

“At each turn, we moved from what ultimately proved to be a declining market opportunity to a larger opportunity,” stated SplashCast CEO Michael Berkley. “We have a lot to be proud of. In addition we have a lot of lessons learned to humbly take with us as we move on.”

Publishers were not willing to pay SplashCast to use their service.  Venture capitalists were also not willing to “bet” further on the company.  This is why the company has officially decided to shut down.  It was a good run, guys.  Best of luck on future endeavors.

SplashCast attempted to raise a Series B round of funding, but was unable to do so.  The company’s first round was about $4 million by Mark Bayliss.  Rather than trying to keep the company afloat, SplashCast is now looking for a buyer.  Michael Berkley, CEO of SplashCast decided to focus more on Social TV.

SplashCast claims to be receiving 5.8 million unique viewers per month that are streaming 7.2 million videos.  These visits come through 25 SplashCast channels.  Despite all this traffic, SplashCast is having a hard time monetizing it.  This is why they have decided to put themselves up for sale.

By selling off their core business, this will give Berkley time to focus more on the Social TV aspect of their business.

[via TechCrunch]

I honestly had mixed feelings when I saw NPR created a Facebook application. I had these apathetic feelings because I’m simply sick of all Facebook applications, both practical (like this one) and useless (like Top Friends, SuperPoke, Zombie, etc.). I definitely enjoy listening to NPR on occasion and I was a fan of Marshall Kirkpatrick’s work on TechCrunch and in the few times I interacted with Kirkpatrick, he seems like a genuine guy. Therefore, I am rooting for SplashCast to do well also.

I’d say I first truly appreciated NPR when I listened to a streaming episode of Tavis Smiley interview John Cho and Kal Penn about Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and how their characters busted stereotypes. I regret not getting into the whole podcasting scene and adding NPR podcasts to my iPod, but perhaps I’ll start doing so.

I’d like to see a way for NPR to utilize SplashCast technology independently of Facebook. Perhaps have a YouTube-like user interface for it. But I do think SplashCast has truly added value to their partnership to NPR. SplashCast has taken a traditional form of media and integrated into a Web 2.0 world. And the intention for doing so seems to be another way to consolidate information and make it more accessible.

References:
[1] SplashCast blog: NPR Podcast Player Launches in Facebook, powered by SplashCast

MyPodcastNetwork allows users to embed video and audio podcasts to their SplashCast players.  MyPodcastNetwork hosts a plethora of video channels to embed on blogs and websites in its catalog.  The video channel that caught my eye at the top of the catalog website is The Onion News Network which was given $1 million in funding about 1 month ago.

To embed videos from the catalog, users are asked to create an account and then click on “Podcasts and RSS [Source: SplashCast blog].”  A sample SplashCast player is below: