Each customer uses our news media video workspace in their own way, but it's always easy to see when trending moments command universal attention (you know, like billionaires heading to space).

As usual, July 2021 was packed with big news stories and our customers were all over them. Content producers were relentless in their quest to curate powerful video moments.

For the month of July, SnapStream users conducted 31,687 searches about people and events around the globe. Let's check out some of the biggest search topics.

Tokyo Olympics - After an extra year of waiting, the Summer Olympics finally returned, albeit with adjustments for health and safety. Gone were the roaring crowds of fans from around the globe, but that didn't stop folks from watching and delivering commentary. From hot takes on Simone Biles' decision to opt out of the team competition to Snoop Dogg and Kevin Hart's comedic takes on every event, gold-medal-worthy moments were everywhere.

Climate Change, Floods and Wildfires - listing the places NOT experiencing floods, wildfires, and other climate change-driven events might take less time than enumerating the ones that are. Oh, and let's not forget that July was the month that a burst pipe literally set the ocean on fire.

Billionaires, Bezos and Branson - This century's space race is being driven by billionaires. While things were heating up in July here on the ground, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos set their sights on the sky. Branson became the first person to ride into space on a rocket he helped fund. Bezos took flight just over a week later. 

And That’s Not All

Other big searches this month included:

• All-Star Game - The American League won its eighth-straight MLB All-Star Game and NY Mets first baseman Pete Alonso won the Home Run Derby for his second time.
• Haiti - Haitian President Jovenel Moise was killed on July 7. More than 30 individuals were initially implicated in the assassination plot. The Haitian government recently requested a UN commission to lead a probe into the killing. 
• Abbott - Texas Governor Greg Abbott committed to calling "special session after special session" until Republican-backed voting rights legislation passes in his state. Texas House Democrats left the state in an effort to break quorum and block the legislation.
• Delta - The Delta variant of COVID-19 hit the US in full force in July, with Missouri at the epicenter of the surge. By the end of July, the Delta variant accounted for the vast majority of new COVID-19 cases.

Lots to see in July, with powerful video moments to capture all over the world.  So, keep searching, keep snapping, and we look forward to seeing what captures everyone's attention next month.

Each customer uses our news media video workspace in their own way, but it's always easy to see when trending moments command universal attention. As usual, June 2021 was packed with big news stories and our customers were all over them. Content producers were relentless in their quest to curate powerful video moments.

From June 1 through June 27, SnapStream users ran 33,317 search queries. 

Below are some of the major search topics of the month.

George Floyd - For his role in the murder of George Floyd, former police officer, Derek Chauvin, was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. Darnella Frazier, the teen who recorded the powerful and tragic video was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for "for courageously recording... a video that spurred protests against police brutality around the world, highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists' quest for truth and justice."

Juneteenth - After passing through both the Senate and the House, President Biden signed a law making Juneteenth a federal holiday. The law enshrines June 19 as a day for the nation to commemorate the belated end of slavery in the United States.

Georgia - Attorney General Garland announced the Justice Department is suing Georgia for introducing new voting restrictions. Garland says the laws “were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of Black Georgians to vote.”

And That’s Not All

Other big searches this month included:

• John Bolton - The Justice Department dropped its civil lawsuit over former national security adviser John bolton’s memoir
• William Barr - Details have emerged that former Attorney General William Barr had a profanity-laden split with Trump over election lies. Barr said Trump’s election lies were “all Bulls--t.”
• Tulsa - An emotional President Biden remembered June 1 as the 100 year anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre.

June proved, once again, just how powerful video moments can be. So, keep searching, keep snapping, and we look forward to seeing what captures everyone's attention next month.

Each customer uses our news media video workspace in their own way, but it's always easy to see when major moments get everyone's attention. And May 2021 was chock full of big news stories -- you know, just like every other month before it in recent memory.

We're back at it this month looking at the top search topics in May. From May 1 through May 27, SnapStream users ran 32,240 search queries. Below are some of the hottest search topics of the month.

Restaurants and minimum wage - several restaurants complained of worker shortages as COVID restrictions lifted. For many chains, this brought to a head a years-long battle over wages in the restaurant industry, with some - including Chipotle and McDonald's - ultimately announcing wage increases that are likely to force others in the space to follow suit.

Asian Americans - in addition to May being Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month,  signed the bipartisan-supported COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law. The legislation comes in the wake of increased violence toward Asian Americans throughout the pandemic.  

January 6 - Guys - did something happen on January 6 this year? Guess we'll find out, maybe. The date of the insurrection was back on everyone's radars as the House passed a bill to investigate the attack on the Capitol. 

Cheney and Marjorie - raise your hand if you'd thought much about Liz Cheney or Marjorie Taylor Greene prior to 2021. Yeah...us either.

Both made headlines in May, with Rep. Cheney in the spotlight for being ousted from her House leadership post by fellow GOP members. Her transgression? Refusing to perpetuate the false idea that the presidential election was rigged.

At the other end of the GOP spectrum was Rep. Greene, who continues to snag the spotlight with her fringe viewpoints. Just when we thought her statement about Jewish space lasers was peak MTG, she one-upped herself this month, making waves by comparing House floor mask mandates to the Holocaust.

The news is WILD, y'all.

Other big searches this month included:

• Critical race theory - several states have recently introduced bills that would prohibit critical race theory from being taught in public schools. And House Republicans introduced a bill that would ban diversity training for federal employees and the military. 
  
  
• Gaza and Israel - a ceasefire came after 11 days of fighting and more than 240 casualties. This decades-old conflict is far from over and has precipitated demonstrations and protests around the globe.
  
  
• Cyber ninjas - the folks leading the charge auditing the November 2020 election results in Arizona. 
  
  
• NFL Draft - Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence is headed to Jacksonville in hopes of helping the Jaguars do better than 1-15 this season.
  
  
• Bill Gates - Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage. Think we will see either of them on Tinder at some point?
  
  
• Zoom dysmorphia - apparently seeing yourself in the corner of video calls all day can create a skewed self-image. Lucky for us, we were already pretty skewed to begin with.
  
  

Can't wait to see what captures everyone's attention next month!

Because every SnapStream customer creates their own curated searchable video archive, we find that search trends can be as unique as the organizations we serve. Yet it’s always easy to see the biggest moments each month, because they get all our users searching.

This month, from April 1 through April 28, SnapStream users ran 38,956 search queries. Below are some of the hottest search topics of the month.

Fauci, India, and Vaccines -  SnapStream users are still searching for COVID-related terms, as the pandemic enters a new phase. Dr. Fauci appeared in more than 440 searches in April, as new COVID guidance emerged and vaccine availability ramped up. Searches for India rose sharply in the second half of the month as the country faces a heavy surge and new variants.

George Floyd - various search terms focused on George Floyd, Minneapolis Police, and Derek Chauvin were prevalent this month as the Chauvin trial resulted in guilty verdicts on all counts. 

Oscars - searches for The Oscars/The Academy Awards topped more than 300. It was exciting to see The Oscars come back this year. An incredible list of winners. Thank yous to parents for procreating. And Glenn Close doing Da Butt. It was a weird, wild event.

Other big searches this month included:

• Georgia & Stacey Abrams - many searches focused on the new Georgia voting law and restrictions around providing water to voters waiting in line
  
  
• Matt Gaetz - the term Venmo was often attached to these searches
  
  
• DMX - Ruff Ryder's Anthem will always be our favorite
  
  
• Marijuana & weed - it was 4/20, after all
  
  
• Biden (both Joe and Hunter) - infrastructure was also a hot term as the President shared his $4 Trillion economic plan
  
  
• Amazon - related to the union vote in Alabama
  
  

We are excited to see what the next month of searches will bring. 

Much of the national conversation about the 2020 presidential election happens on TV—and being able to search, track, and clip that conversation can give your election coverage a leg up. 

Find Exact Moments

Maybe you missed a candidate’s appearance on a news show, or simply didn’t catch a particular comment she or he made during a debate. With SnapStream, you can search through the closed captioning text and program guide data for all the TV shows you have recorded to instantly find the exact moments you’re looking for. 

You can search for a particular candidate’s name (such as “Bernie Sanders”), and even refine your search to find narrower matches (such as “Bernie Sanders” and “Elizabeth Warren”). 

Track Mentions with TV Alerts

With SnapStream’s TV Alerts feature, you can get consistent emails about the search terms that matter to you and your reporting. 

Each SnapStream TV Alert is made up of one or more search queries (ranging from simple to advanced). You can set up an unlimited number of TV Alerts, and dictate the frequency and time of day you get them.  

For example, you can set up TV Alerts for the search terms “Bernie Sanders,” and “Elizabeth Warren” to appear in your inbox every day at 9 AM. 

Additionally, you can send TV alerts to as many people as you’d like. 

Clip Videos for Increased Engagement on Social Media 

Did a candidate say something surprising on TV? Did a commentator or spokesperson make an interesting, insightful comment about the election? 

While you can write out a tweet or Facebook post quoting what was said, doing so takes away a lot of the nuance. Creating a video clip of that moment and sharing it on social media would be more powerful. Your followers would not only get to listen to what was said, but they’d also be able to glean additional context, such as tone and body language. 

They’d also be more likely to engage with your posts. On Twitter, for example, tweets with video get 10x more engagement than those without. 

With SnapStream, you can clip any moment from broadcast TV to create a video, GIF, or screenshot. You can then instantly share that moment to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. You can also vertically crop clips for sharing on Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok.

SnapStream makes broadcast TV searchable, and live video and broadcast TV social. Users can find any moment and mention on TV by searching closed captioning data and setting up TV Alerts. They can also instantly capture, create, and share video clips, GIFs, and screenshots to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as create square and vertical clips for Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. SnapStream's customers include BuzzFeed, Politico, CNN, and the Media Research Center. 

The deadline for finding a SnappyTV alternative is approaching. SnappyTV will shut down on December 31. Twitter LiveCut, the tool Twitter has replaced it with, has limited functionality. 

To keep your momentum on social media, it’s important to find a powerful SnappyTV alternative that enables you to record, clip, and share moments from live video and broadcast TV. 

With SnapStream, you can do everything you did with SnappyTV—and more. Here are three SnapStream-powered sports social media posts that got over half a million views. 

1) LSU Football's FB Clip of Marcus Spears's ESPN Appearance 

LSU Football alumnus Marcus Spears appeared on ESPN’s Get Up! show after the LSU Tigers won their first game against the Alabama Crimson Tide since 2011. Using SnapStream, LSU Football clipped his appearance on the show and posted it on its Facebook page. 

The post got more than 600,000 views, close to 9,000 shares, and almost 10,000 likes. 

2) The St. Louis Blues’ Tweet of the Stanley Cup Final

The moment many have waited a lifetime to see happen!!! Celebrate, St. Louis!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/xTzDHsiO8Z

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) June 13, 2019

In June 2019, the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup for the first time. 

Their social media team tweeted a video clip of the final few seconds of that fateful game—and the players hugging each other and celebrating their historic win. That tweet garnered 2.2 million views, more than 15,000 retweets, and close to 50,000 likes. 

3) SportsNet New York’s Tweet of a Quinnen Williams Moment

No comment @QuinnenWilliams 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/BIFB7BYQLc

— Jets Videos (@snyjets) August 3, 2019

During a press conference, Quinnen Williams, a defensive tackle for the New York Jets, had an awkwardly funny moment. 

SportsNet New York clipped and instantly posted that video on Twitter. It went viral, getting 3 million views, more than 7,000 retweets, and more than 28,000 likes. 

Looking for a SnappyTV alternative?  With SnapStream, you can ingest HLS and RTMP streams, natively export content to a variety of third-party services, record and search TV, and do a lot more. 

SnapStream Product Demo (watch now)

SnapStream makes live video and  broadcast TV social. Our technology lets users instantly capture, create, and share video clips, GIFs, and screenshots to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as create square and vertical clips for Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. SnapStream's customers include BuzzFeed, Major League Soccer, and the Arizona Coyotes.

SnappyTV is going away December 31, 2019—meaning users have just several weeks left to find an alternative (LiveCut, the tool Twitter is replacing SnappyTV with, has limited functionality). 

You should ask these three questions as you search for your new solution.

What kind of streams does this tool support? 

Depending on your organization’s needs, you might use either RTMP or HLS streams, or both. However, Twitter LiveCut doesn’t support HLS streams—it only supports RTMP streams. 

When doing your research, ask what streams the product you’re considering supports. Having the option to use multiple types of streams gives you and your team flexibility.

Does this tool have broad native support for CDNs and OVPs?

You might also want to be able to natively export the clips you create to a variety of third-party services, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and YouTube. Twitter LiveCut does not support natively exporting to any third-party platforms. 

If you need to use OVP, CDN, and MAM services, make sure the tool you’re considering natively integrates with them. That way, you won’t have to resort to manually downloading clips and then uploading them to third-party services.

Does this tool record TV in addition to live video? 

Having recordings of broadcast TV in addition to recordings of your own video feeds can give you more content to use. You can bolster your organization’s social media accounts by creating and posting video clips, GIFs, and screenshots from your own feeds as well as from broadcast TV. 

Make sure that the tool you’re evaluating has a built-in Electronic Program Guide (EPG) to easily schedule recordings of different channels. Closed caption-based search is another powerful feature. It can make finding great content easy. 

For example, say a leader at your organization gets invited as a guest on a news program. A tool that enables you to search through the closed captioning data to find that TV appearance, create a clip of it, and share that clip to your organization’s social media accounts can ultimately lead to more engagement from your followers. 

Looking for a SnappyTV alternative?  With SnapStream, you can ingest HLS and RTMP streams, natively export content to a variety of third-party services, record and search TV, and do a lot more. 

SnapStream Product Demo (watch now)

SnapStream makes live video and broadcast TV social. Our technology lets users instantly capture, create, and share video clips, GIFs, and screenshots to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as create square and vertical clips for Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. SnapStream's customers include BuzzFeed, Politico, and the Arizona Coyotes. 

In July 2019, Twitter announced that it would be sunsetting SnappyTV by December 31, 2019, and replacing it with LiveCut, which is now part of its own Media Studio. 

If you’re looking for a SnappyTV replacement for your social media team, SnapStream might fit your needs. We’ve been making TV social since 2015. Here are some of the features our hundreds of customers, including BuzzFeed, Politico, and Talking Points Memo, use to share TV and live video to Twitter, Facebook and a variety of other OVPs and CDNs.

Tweeting and More Direct Social Sharing

Using SnapStream to tweet a moment from ESPN. 

With SnapStream, you can clip a video or create a screenshot or GIF and instantly share it to your Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts—all within one interface. No need to manually download a clip or open a new tab. 

You can customize permission settings to control which users have the ability to share content to your organization’s social media accounts. 

Editing Tools

Using SnapStream to vertically crop a clip to a 9:16 aspect ratio. 

You can vertically crop clips within SnapStream for Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. You can crop clips to a number of dimensions—square, 9:16, 16:9, and 4:3. 

And regardless of which social media channel you want to push your content to, you can use SnapStream to add watermarks (such as your organization’s logo) and meme text.

TV Search and TV Alerts 

Searching for TV mentions of the term "Microsoft" with SnapStream. 

Need to find an exact moment of TV? SnapStream’s TV Search uses closed captioning text and program guide data for all the TV shows you’ve recorded to instantly find “a needle in a haystack” on broadcast TV. 

SnapStream’s TV Search can comb through your entire library in seconds (even if your recordings go back for years). The advanced language algorithms correct the transcripts and make them more readable. They also identify syntax clues that make your search more reliable and useful. 

You can search for your organization’s name, the name of a public figure, and more. You can also refine your search using boolean and other operators (for example, you can search “White House” or “Oval Office.”) 

If you want to keep track of a particular keyword, such as “Houston Rockets,” you can create a TV Alert and get a notification in your inbox whenever that keyword is mentioned on TV.

Integration with 3rd Party Services

The 3rd party services SnapStream supports. 

With SnapStream, you can get your video files where they need to be by natively exporting them to a variety of cloud services. 

SnapStream has native support for a broad set of cloud storage, OVP, CDN, and MAM services: 

• Box.com 
• Dropbox 
• Google Drive 
• OneDrive
• Google Cloud Storage
• Amazon S3
• Azure Blob Storage
• YouTube 
• Vimeo
• Ooyala 
• Brightcove 
• Sony Ci Media 
• Frame.io

After you push your video files to a cloud service, you can archive them to save storage space within SnapStream.

Workflows

An overview of how SnapStream's Workflows feature works. 

Workflows in SnapStream let you save time by swiftly automating tasks using simple dropdown menus. 

You can configure Workflows to trigger on certain events (such as “Recording Finished” or “Clip Created”) and then take a sequence of actions, such as moving or copying a file, or exporting a file to a third party cloud storage provider. 

SnapStream Product Demo (watch now)

SnapStream makes TV social. Our technology lets users instantly capture, create, and share HD quality video clips, GIFs, and screenshots to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as create square and vertical clips for Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. SnapStream's customers include BuzzFeed, Politico, and CNN.

SnapStream 9.3 brings you clipping across recordings, new task notifications, 3x playback in the web player, and more than 75 bug fixes and improvements. You can see these new features in action by watching our on-demand webinar. Here’s what we’ve added and improved: 

A few of the highlights:

• Clipping Across Recordings 
• New Task Notifications 
• 3x Playback

Clipping Across Recordings

SnapStream 9.3 lets you clip across recordings without missing a frame. Did your show start early or late? No need to worry. As long as you’re recording a feed continuously, you’ll get a merged timeline in the player. 

To get started, load the recordings you want in the player and clip across them. The result? A seamless clip from point to point.

New Task Notifications 

The revamped notification system in SnapStream 9.3 lets you minimize, dismiss, or even retrieve tasks later. You can control how much of your screen notifications cover. 

To minimize a notification, click the “-” bar on the top-right pane.

3x Playback

Save even more time watching clips with 3x playback in SnapStream 9.3. 

Every single frame will play at 3x the speed. And the pitch corrected audio means you won’t hear chipmunk voices. 

To play a clip at 3x the speed, go to the playback speed settings in the player and select “3x.”

More

SnapStream 9.3 has over 75 other bug fixes and improvements, like improved HLS recording. Please read the full release notes. 

Schedule Upgrade to 9.3

(Usually 1 hour) 
SnapStream’s support team will perform the upgrade via a remote session.

Watch On-Demand Webinar: SnapStream 9.3

See SnapStream 9.3 in action.