Kickstarter Picks Up Live-Streaming Service Huzza

Crowd-funding company Kickstarter has acquired interactive live-streaming start-up Huzza and will incorporate the service into its own live broadcast offering, Kickstarter Live, the company announced Feb. 1.

Huzza—which offers musicians real-time, live-video interactions with fans—will shut down its own operations in March, and its founders, Justin Womersley and Nick Smit, will take on new roles with Kickstarter Live.

“In the few months since introducing [Kickstarter Live], hundreds of creators have invited tens of thousands of new fans to tune in to live broadcasts — from intimate musical performances, and live product demos, to instructional gameplay tutorials, and private dance rehearsals,” the company wrote in a blog post. “These behind-the-scenes invitations into the creative process have brought artists and audiences closer together, and helped creators generate greater support for their ideas at the earliest stages of development.”

Kickstarter estimates that Kickstarter Live viewers spend more than 16 minutes per stream.