Today’s news from Episodic founder, Noam Lovinsky that they’ve been purchased by Google, is very important to the OVP space. There are not many details about the deal in the form of purchase price, future plans, etc. but Noam offers a bit of info including a small FAQ for customers on their blog (link above).
As we mentioned in our 2010 OVP Predictions last December, this would be the year for M&A activity in Online Video. We heard from Kit-Digital early on acquiring not one, not two, but three OVPs. Multicast was the latest, announced just last month. We saw SesameVault, a young OVP put itself on eBay, and we witnessed one of the early YouTube competitors, Veoh completely shut its doors after failing to reinvent itself or to garner further funding.
But this acquisition is different, it’s hopeful in my humble opinion. Google, the Internet’s dominant presence, has further validated our space after the purchase of YouTube for an astounding amount of money. We’ve heard from little birds that, while this purchase price is nothing in comparison, it is still a healthy amount of money all things considered. What things you ask? Well, Episodic by comparison is a relative newcomer in the OVP space with fewer customers than most of their competitors. They had just recently publicly launched their business just a few months ago, and had taken $2.5 million in funding. This is not to say that Episodic does not deserve to be bought by Google, they absolutely do.
I have the privilege of knowing Noam and have seen the insides of his product. It was very impressive back when I first saw it and they’ve had a lot of time to further enhance the technology which is clearly the reason for Google’s purchase of them. Google is about technology and talent, two things Episodic has to offer Google with their stellar product line and highly talented team of engineers. Congratulations Noam, Matias (a Senior Web Developer at Google), and team. We look forward to learning more and watching you flourish within the Google walls.
Here’s to a healthy year of further growth and prosperity in Online Video.
