The numbers are staggering, I think everyone is aware of the 16.8 billion videos viewed in America in April 2009 according to comScore. Obviously the majority of this is driven by leg-snapping skateboarders and hyperactive kids with high pitched voices on YouTube but what’s much more interesting is that while millions of Americans waste so much time on these UGC videos we’re also seeing real business growth in the online video platform space, during an economic downturn and while VCs are drying up. Online video platform providers are still coming out of the woodwork to support real online video business.
In the past few weeks we’ve seen at least two new entrants into the sector including one business model switch by Joost, and a slick new offering from newbie, Quick.tv. To date Joost’s offering has been all talk, no product yet but they’ll hopefully do a good job of it considering the fact that they’ve got a lot to prove. On the other hand Quick.tv enters the space having learned from the “vets” like Brightcove, Ooyala, and Twistage whom have paved the way for newbies via trial & error, and good ol’ hard work allowing platforms like Quick to emerge out the gates with a robust offering including all the basics; upload, encode, storage, playback topped off with hand-built and customizable (by the user) interactive ads and promotions, multiple encoding rates, and collaboration, all in a clean drag and drop bundle. Is any of this new or groundbreaking? No. And this is not a piece about Quick.tv but rather a moment of excitement driven by a passion for the OVPP space in seeing growth and a thoughtful approach.
Point is, as mentioned in a previous post, the space is getting crowded and is increasingly confusing but couple a high demand product with smart people and you begin to see some clarity coming to the sector in the form of conferences, the Online Video Platform Summit, Platform Roundtables hosted by StreamingMedia, and engaging content from ReelSEO, VideoNuze, OnlineVideoWatch, KlessBlog, FierceOnlineVideo, etc. I also think we’re going to see more specialization like Wistia’s online video platform offering with a focus on internal collaboration and productivity.
The excitement mounts as we emerge from our infancy into wobbly-legged toddler-hood well equipped with abundant energy and a wildly hopeful outlook. Just take a look at the recent Twitter activity level from @kaltura.
Long live OV!
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