video streaming
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...
website and mobile application. Launched in 2014, and based in
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, United States, the service enabled multiple people to remotely browse and watch the same content in real-time.
A host could create a room, invite others to it (or, alternatively, set it to public so the room appeared on the site's homepage for anyone to join), and share content using a virtual computer called a "Rabbitcast," or using the Google Chrome extension "Share on Rabbit." Whatever content the host opened was displayed to the other users in the room along with audio and video. Rabbit offered text and video chat alongside this functionality.
Unlike other popular streaming websites such as
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
and
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
, Rabbit did not host the content viewed on it. Instead, Rabbit streamed a virtual computer (Rabbitcast) with a browser, which could then be used to navigate to other websites and content. A Rabbitcast was a Rabbit-hosted, shared Firefox browser that could be viewed and controlled by anyone within the room. The built-in
web browser
A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...
pre-installed
Pre-installed software (also known as bundled software) is software already installed and licensed on a computer or smartphone bought from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
History
After a
beta release
The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...
in 2013 which offered limited
Mac
Mac or MAC may refer to:
Common meanings
* Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc.
* Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth
* Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages
* McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...
-only functionality, the company redesigned Rabbit as a
web app
A web application (or web app) is application software that is created with World Wide Web, web technologies and runs via a web browser. Web applications emerged during the late 1990s and allowed for the server to Dynamic web page, dynamically ...
in the summer of 2014. The service took off, adding 400,000 users by the end of the year. With around 3.6 million monthly active users, Rabbit users viewed content using the service for an average of 12.5 hours a month, with the most active users doing so for 28.5 hours a month. The company had 30 employees worldwide as of May 2019.
In July 2019, Rabbit CEO Amanda Richardson announced that the site was soon to cease operations; a round of VC funding had failed in May, and Richardson was forced to lay off staff and begin shutting Rabbit down immediately. Despite announcements that all staff members had been let go, the site remained semi-functional until July 31, 2019 when the servers were shut down.
On July 31, 2019, it was announced that its remaining assets—intellectual property, software stack, and several patents—had been acquired by fellow streaming service Kast.