Archive for the ‘Online Video Platform Providers’ Category

Introduction to Monetizing Online Video Free Whitepaper and Video

March 1st, 2010

Online Video Platform (OVP), Delve Networks launched their online video hosting and streaming services in early 2008 with the goal of helping small and large business manage their video content in an easy to use interface. They’ve succeeded over the past few years to further develop their platform services while collecting some high-profile customers along the way. In fact, just recently in November of 2009 Delve landed NFL.com powering their video portal.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting on a panel with Delve CEO, Alex Castro at the Online Video Platform Summit where we discussed the definition of an OVP. Alex is a bright and determined guy who was a pleasure to meet and speak with while at the show. He told me about some new customer wins that would shortly be announced as well as a plethora of new services like mobile video streaming, geographic location and domain control, and new APIs.

A few weeks ago Delve hosted a webinar on the topic of Monetizing Online Video, a high-profile subject matter in our space today with some industry pundits shouting from the rooftops that OV advertising will, is, and has changed the way we monetize the web today while others state that until real standards are in place OV advertising will fail to deliver real revenue.  I personally am of the belief that many positive strides have been made over the past few years with some highly effective ad units and ad models that will surely change the face of online revenue generation for years to come.

With that said, Delve and VidCompare offer you the FREE webinar and video, Introduction to Monetizing Online Video where Reed Terry, head of marketing discusses three compelling solutions including Pay-per-view, Subscriptions, and Advertising. Click the link below to download your free whitepaper and watch the video:

Introduction to Monetizing Online Video

Enjoy and thanks for tuning in…

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Ooyala Expands Internationally – An Interview with Bismarck Lepe

January 21st, 2010

Ooyala, a premium services, online video platform (OVP) announced yesterday that they’ve signed a strategic partnership deal with the UK’s leading newspaper and online news site, the Telegraph Media Group. The announcement came shortly after another International partnership with Japan’s NTT, was established. Their growth outside of the US marks relatively new territory for the online video platform as it races to enter a rich environment for online video services.

I had a chance to speak with Ooyala’s Co-founder and President of Products, Bismarck Lepe. The following is an email interview we conducted together whereby he was kind enough to answer a few questions regarding the announcements as well as their company growth and goals for expanding further outside the US.

VidCompare:

Ooyala stated back in October, when you received your most recent round of funding, that you’d be using some of it to expand Internationally increasing both footprint (staff) and clientele. Can you comment on this growth as it pertains to staffing outside of the London office?

Ooyala:

Just last week we announced that we are expanding into the Japanese market. In the coming months we will be making a few more announcements about expansion into mainland Europe and Latin America.

VidCompare:

Are there other partnerships in play outside of TMG and NTT?

Ooyala:

Yes. We have both customer and channel relationship announcements coming down the line. Our field sales team continues to sign large platform customers and our business development team has been focused on signing relationships with partners who will help Ooyala grow its global footprint.

VidCompare:

TMG has been a Brightcove customer for a few years and Brightcove has had International presence for over two years. Are you targeting Brightcove customers specifically in an effort to expand Internationally?

Ooyala:

No. We obviously compete against them in the market, but the vast majority of our customer wins actually come from companies who are moving off of their DIY solutions to a 3rd party platform. We haven’t even scratched the surface of total opportunities to be focusing on only ripping out Brightcove installs. Outside of the UK, US and Germany, we rarely see Brightcove in a deal.

VidCompare:

Ooyala is actively increasing headcount with what appears to be over 30 positions currently open. Are these both International and Domestic openings?

Ooyala:

Yes. We are hiring across all division in all markets.

VidCompare:

What will these positions be focused on?

Ooyala:

Across the board: Sales, Sales Engineering, Marketing, Account Management, Finance, Operations and Engineering

VidCompare:

The partnership with TMG is unique in that you are actually co-habitating with their staff in London and are working together to build out the new relationship. Is the first such relationship whereby you partner with a customer to co-develop the product?

Ooyala:

We are doing something similar with NTT.  But the TMG relationship is unique because we are committing engineering resources to open-ended projects that will be targeted to the print industry. Unlike other relationships where engineering is used to complete a statement of work, this development relationship is about quick iteration of new concepts and development of products and features that will gain some reasonable traction.

VidCompare:

Has this partnership been setup this way due to the unique nature of their product requiring custom development of your existing services or will you be developing new services for them specifically?

Ooyala:

No. This is completely new ground for new product development and innovation.

Thank you for your this opportunity Bismarck.

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Simplifying Online Video Production With a Simple UI

January 11th, 2010

provdn-logo

A new Online Video Platform (OVP) launched yesterday, right on schedule according to Allan Tone, CEO of ProVDN.com who told me back in November that he’d be launching just after the new year. Typically I would not write about the launch of a new OVP considering the fact that, as I’ve mentioned so many times before, the sector is very crowded. But ProVDN speaks to a niche audience with a highly specialized approach, another subject matter I’ve discussed at length, specialization in our space.

ProVDN is an “Online Video Platform designed specifically for Independent Content Producers, Wedding/Event Videographers, and small to medium sized Video Production Companies”, to put it in his words. Now that’s a targeted market segment. They don’t have an over the top, robust service with all the bells and whistles like Brightcove, or Ooyala with deep analytics and monetization tools but rather a simple set of clearly defined tools to help the videographer and producer get the job done in an effective and efficient manner. ProVDN does utilize variable bitrate technology to enhance smooth streaming, and they offer affordable pricing allowing content producers a low barrier to entry for their services.

Allan and I met at OVPSummit in November where he told me about a problem in our industry involving video producers. We spoke for almost an hour about how videographers must engage in a cumbersome process with their clientele at the highly critical point of approval. Historically the producer would take the edited version of the video, burn it to DVD, ship it to the customer, then wait for them to watch it and verbally report back to them what changes they wanted made. I can hear the phone call now, “Um, at one minute twenty seconds the cat goes to the bathroom on the floor in the background, cut that scene…”. Tedious. Allan explained that online production services like TurnHere have made great strides in this area with easy to use online tools but Allan wanted to take it a step further and develop a drop-dead simple online tool that anyone could use.

I took the interactive review tool for a stroll today and found it to be quite clean with a clean UI, and simple point-and-click navigation that needed little to no explanation. The customer is presented with a link taking them to a video to watch with several frames underneath and a progress bar below showing all the areas where notes have been added. You can jump forward and back 1 or 5 seconds or drag the progress button anywhere within the video. In the top left corner are the notation tools where the user can select Comments, Arrows, Rectangles, or draw Freehand the messages they want to leave per frame. Just click on a tool, then the video, and enter your text instruction. It’s that easy.

ProVDN found a pain point in the industry and addressed a need by developing a service that simplifies a process, making life easier for online video content producers. At a time when video production is in high demand and quality video content is difficult to come by (perceived), it’s nice to see a highly specialized service addressing this important need.

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Free Online Video Tips, A Case Study

January 3rd, 2010

ElliptiGO Inc. is a customer of Online Video hosting provider, vzaar. The following case study has been provided by vzaar to help illustrate the power and positive effects of online video for web-based businesses.

The ElliptiGO is the world’s first outdoor elliptical road bike. The bicycle combines the best of running, cycling and the indoor elliptical trainer to deliver a high-performance, low-impact exercise experience.

Bryan Pate, Co-Founder of ElliptiGO Inc., told vzaar that for such a must-see product, video is essential and that the “bottom line is that for our product the video is the absolute best way to communicate what we’ve created because the instant someone sees it in action they understand it.  It’s almost impossible to convey our product through text or even pictures.”

So how have you embraced video?

We primarily use video on the site. It purposefully dominates the homepage and screams play me! In addition we send out newsletters each month and many of the recipients come to the website to specifically watch the video. Whilst video-in-email remains an unchartered and unreliable marketing tactic, we do use the video on our iPhones and Blackberrys to facilitate explaining the bike in personal interactions. It’s like having a product demo in your pocket! Bottom line is that for our product the video is absolutely the best way to communicate what we’ve created. The instant someone sees the bike in action they understand it. It’s almost impossible to convey our product through text or even pictures.

Tell us about the numbers

Attributing success to one video is always hard when you first bring your website to market, but at ElliptiGO we’re not only delighted with the 133% increase in visits (doubling previous traffic) but significantly the 30% increase in average time spent on the site. We attribute much of these improvements to an initial redesign of our site and prominent placement of our homepage video.

A further website redesign in November of this year resulted in an additional 18% increase in visits and a 50% increase in average time on site which underlines the work we have put into optimizing the positioning of the video and its call to action messaging. We added a call to action “Watch the 8S in action” and customers are doing just that we’re pleased to say.

Lights, Camera, Action!

We worked with a videographer who is also a professional tri-athlete to shoot our videos. Nothing like having an expert in the field to help shape how we show the product’s benefits. You only have to watch the video to see it has been money well spent. In addition, she’s very reasonable – about $1,500 for a full day of shooting plus video production for two videos. Furthermore, this is just the start as the business has done two shoots with her now so we’re getting better at accomplishing what we want and getting the right shots and shooting at the right time of day.

This case study was provided by Jamie Parkins of vzaar.com.

vzaar

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2010 Predictions for Online Video

December 17th, 2009

OVP2010We’re seeing 2010 predictions emerge in the Online Video space by industry leaders and it provides for interesting reading. That being said, there’s nothing shocking being stated, or rather, there are no big surprises or prognostications of something new to come. Everyone tends to agree on what to expect in the New Year including the much hyped TV Everywhere, set-top boxes, multiple screens, and of course, mobile.

Indeed these are exciting features and products to look forward to and what’s mentioned by these smart individuals is definitely worth reading. So, I have laid out for you a few comments and links regarding aforementioned subject matter below:

  • Ron Yekultiel of Kaltura on the DIY online video solutions: “Alternatively, more publishers will opt to self-host the video management platform behind their firewall to allow for greater security, control, and flexibility. In both scenarios, the commoditized video delivery services (e.g. storage, backup, streaming, transcoding) shall be augmented by innovative high-margin digital services such as video search, metadata extraction & analysis, and syndication.”
  • Ben Weinberger of DigitalSmiths on TV Everywhere: “TV Everywhere, which Time Warner announced over the summer, is a beautiful idea: for a fee, cable operators will give subscribers multi-platform access to whatever is on cable, at any time, from any place, on any device.  This notion has caught fire, with Comcast and other major players announcing their own versions of this exciting platform.  I expect that, along with the new initiatives movie studios unleash, 2010 will be the year of TV Everywhere — especially as versions of this idea start becoming available to consumers.”
  • Ian Blaine of thePlatform on viral distribution: “Another trend that hit big in 2009 is viral distribution on a massive scale. We of course had YouTube as an early leader, and its growth in 2009 continued to stun. One billion streams a day is something that was hard to imagine even a few years ago. But beyond YouTube, the continued growth of Facebook and the emergence of Twitter as platforms for distribution of media became real, and really interesting.”
  • And Ryan Lawler of NewTeeVee on set-top boxes: “With broadband connectivity being extended to more consumer electronics devices like TVs and Blu-ray players, it will become difficult to justify buying yet another standalone box. And that’s not even mentioning Boxee’s bigger problem, which is convincing programmers and cable companies that it isn’t the enemy.

Personally I think there is something bigger (in the sense of holistically, not enormity) brewing for 2010 which I’ve discussed at length with several OVP CEOs, and that’s the notion of specialization in our space as a result of impending commoditization. OV has come a long way in a very short amount of time and the fact of the matter is, we’re nearing ubiquity at a breakneck pace. It won’t be long until every online business has video in some way, shape, or form used to market their business, sell their product, extend their brand, and/or increase exposure.

The space will grow significantly in 2010 at the cost of a few providers, spurred by differentiation and specialization. I sound like a broken record, I know. But knowing what you do best and capitalizing on strengths is what’s going to take the leaders in OV to the next level and prevent the occurrence of commoditization. Let’s face it, it’s difficult to be everything to everyone. There’s just too much to manage and it’s just too easy to overwhelm users today especially with newer technology and services. With a keen eye on a specific niche and market segment, OVPs will be able to help the $3B small medium enterprise sector realize their goals and achieve them with assurance and confidence in the coming years.

Peace.

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Do It Yourself Video

December 14th, 2009

Do it yourself

Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen asked a question on our Defining OVPs panel last month at Online Video Platform Summit that drew an interesting response from the crowd.

The question was related to whether or not YouTube was a viable solution for business and if people were building their own solutions versus using OVPs. My natural response was, “we’re at OV-P-Summit, not OV-DIY-Summit!” But when Ron Yekutiel of Kaltura wisely asked the crowd who was using YouTube, 6 hands went up. When he asked how many were using OVPs, 8 hands went up. And when he asked how many were using home brewed solutions 12 hands went up into the air. That’s roughly 15% of the audience attending the “Defining OVPs” panel who had developed their own solution for uploading, encoding, storing, and playing back their online video content.

Very interesting indeed.

So I’m curious, before I put a poll on the site. How many businesses out there have gone the OVDIY route? Not sure I have the readership yet to request input via the comments but, if you’re so inclined, let me know either in this post or via email at kdrey at vidcompare.com

Peace.

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Success in Online Video – Looking at 2009

November 15th, 2009

supermanlogoI’ve culled together a short-list of success factors we’ve seen in the Online Video Platform space so far in 2009. Be it funding rounds, acquisitions, or product launches…these efforts stand out to me this year:

- VMIX raised $2 million in a B-1 round to grow sales and extend reach
- Ooyala hired an outside CEO, Jay Fulcher, and raised a $10 million C-round to boost product (monetization) and reach in APAC
- Kit-Digital bought competitor The Feedroom
- Brightcove extended it’s global reach and announced a 200 strong Partner Alliance
- Veeple launched new interPlay product product
- Kaltura officially launched its Open Source video platform, and created the Open Video Alliance
- Magnify.net introduced the notion of “video curation”, signed new partnerships
- PermissionTV rebranded as VisibleGains refocusing on video e-commerce
- Sorenson Media dove head first into the OVP game with Sorenson360

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Green Flowing in OV, Ooyala Gets Funding

October 13th, 2009

ooyalaFinally, some good news in the wide world of Online Video. Enterprise video publishing platform, Ooyala has secured another round of funding in a rather hostile VC environment. Coming off a quarter where only 17 of the total US VC firms were able to raise money themselves, Ooyala convinced Rembrandt Ventures as well as their previous investors to pony up a whopping $10MM C-round to be used to further product development and to expand over seas.

The timing couldn’t be better, recent announcements of fire sales, Kit Digital acquired The Feedroom for pennies on the dollar, and business model changes, PermissionTV renames to VisibleGains, suggest that times are tough for OVPs. But Ooyala shines a light on what’s good in our world ensuring that indeed there is still money to be had and business to be done in OV.

Ooyala is coming off of string of announcements including new product lines with Live Streaming, and the hiring of a new high-profile CEO, Jay Fulcher formerly of Agile Software. Let’s hope they can do some good with this injection of cash and further increase the value of the space.

Congrats Ooyala team.

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Google to Gobble Brightcove?

September 17th, 2009

brightcoveYeah, yeah, you’ve all been reading about it…how one Tweet set off this tidal wave of press regarding the potentially large purchase of Brightcove by Google. An “insider” close to Mark Glaser tipped him off and the Net went wild. And Twitter’s to blame? Dan Rayburn spurns Twitter stating that it’s a “dangerous” tool, but I struggle with that statement asking, what the heck is new here? It’s the Internet, we live in the era of mass communication! Of course rumors fly and gain unsubstantiated, roller coaster-like momentum. It’s not Twitter’s responsibility to weed out the chaff, it’s ours…the writers AND the reader’s.

Before Twitter it was the bloggers who were to “blame” for all the atrocities of the Internet. But readers have come to love and embrace the bloggers of the world with great passion. I spend every morning of my life reading blogs. And look at blowhard Arrington for crying out loud, the man is adored (stretch) and more widely read than most of today’s outlets, traditional or new media.

Back to the point at hand. Is Larry right, are the rumors false? I’m still not convinced. The fact that people close to Brightcove are being told that they, “do not comment on rumors” is a rather bold statement in and of itself. And they’ve been very vocal lately, especially about the Brightcove Partner Alliance. Seems interesting to me that Jerry himself flew out to California to host a Meetup with a handful of partners rather than having them meet in MA where Brightcove is headquartered and where Jeremy lives. They weren’t here for TC50 and decided to make a week of it. So, who were they here to meet with other than partners…Google? Brightcove has over 200 partners in their Alliance whom they say they are very close with and have even go so far as to offer free training to their partners to help them gain traction in reselling or adding value to Brightcove customers. These would be valuable relationships to Google, expanding their reach in new avenues, exposing them to new revenue streams.

I’m an optimist at heart (hahaha) and my gut is telling me that this rumor is not dead yet, and deep down inside I hope it’s true. This would not only be a well-deserved victory for Brightcove but also for the online video platform space in general. Further proof that the economy is coming back, companies are willing to spend again, and online video is worth the investment. IMHO (H is for humble), this might open the doors for what we thought was coming in 2009; buy-outs, mergers and acquisitions, high valuations, etc.

Per my Tweet yesterday, Go Jer, Go!

Peace

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Yes, There Are Many Online Video Platforms, But They’re All Unique

September 14th, 2009

black-sheep-brandedAt VidCompare we try to paint a high-level yet detailed picture for purveyors of Online Video solutions, offering them a place to start their research into what could be a confusing space. Our target audience is the VP of Marketing or busy CEO looking to add functionality to their web site that will increase their exposure, educate their viewers, increase site stickiness, and/or promote their services via online video. By targeting the strategic purchaser we address the top-line issues on VidCompare; what are the options, what are the categories, the use cases, the main features, and lay it out in several different UI’s to appeal to unique shopper’s preferences.

All that said, each OVP has unique feature sets, pricing, and core offerings that set them apart from their competition. Ooyala for example has a robust video content exchange where customers can upload and licence content from one another. They also have very deep analytics showing where viewers are accessing content, when they pause, rewind, or stop video playback. Very useful tools to the online marketer offering them insight into when they should pop an advertisement, or how long their content should be before users stop viewing.

Wistia on the other hand has a unique internal video solution offering businesses deep tools to control content, users, and viewership. For example, if a corporation wanted to set up video tutorials within their intranet Wistia can provide unique log-ins for everyone and expose specific content to each log-in. User can communicate with one another within the control panel asking questions and discussing the content as is plays back. Admins can control who sees what content and time the exposure of certain videos with ease.

Aside from their open source core, Kaltura has one of the most robust video collaboration tools I’ve seen. It allows multiple users to upload bits of video content which can be edited into one video which can then be annotated, tagged, and commented upon. Users can add video, images, audio of their own or choose from a group of preselected content to bolster their collaboration.

And Magnify.net provides what is proving to be an increasingly popular service, content aggregation and curation. Their users can search by key word for video and image content across the Internet that, with a click of a button will be sought out and brought into their control panel. This content can then be used to develop a channel and published to the world to view. For example, if I wanted to start a Skateboarding Dog Channel I could search for “skateboarding dog”, “Rover on wheels”, “kick-flip mutt”, etc. and have a wealth of content arrive in my admin from YouTube, Metacafe, and several other popular video sites.

While VidCompare doesn’t offer this level of detail within the site yet (working on it), you can find it here at the VC blog or you can always ask us.

Peace OV.

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