Thursday, November 30

YouTube, Now Revver on Verizon Wireless

Verizon V-Cast subscribers will get another early Christmas present as Revver joins YouTube in providing content via Verizon's music and video service.

Video Nation: Agency Finds A Majority Now Create Their Own Video, But Few Post Them

In a finding that underscores the potential of a vast, untapped market for user-generated video, new research conducted by interactive agency Sharpe Partners indicates that more than half (54) percent of adult Internet users currently create their own video offline, but only 11 percent actually upload it to the Internet. That margin, says Sharpe, represents a significant opportunity for software and system providers to help facilitate the migration of a burgeoning consumer generated video marketplace online. It also suggests an even more profound fragmentation of the video marketplace is looming than many industry experts may have predicted.

Wednesday, November 29

'Secret' Google Display Advertising Network Rumored

Google has reportedly launched a "secret" CPM online ad network, dubbed the Google Display Advertising Network and being tested since Oct. 1.

With the invitation-only Google Display Advertising Network, Google is targeting Fortune 1000 companies, writes John Chow, saying he has been invited and has been participating in the display and video ad network. "Google has been hand-selecting sites…that they want to put
in front of Fortune 1000 companies. The goal being to sell these big companies display and video ads at a very high CPM," he writes.

Publishers invited to join the display ad network negotiate a flat CPM rate with Google, the contracts are for one year, and the publishers have to guarantee a certain minimum amount of monthly inventory, according to Chow. "Publishers can serve more than the minimum amount
and still receive the same CPM rate for the overage," he writes.

Google provides "extremely limited" reporting via weekly email, reporting only weekly ad impressions and pageviews, Chow writes, adding that he is "not allowed to reveal CPM or any financial data" regarding the Google Display Advertising Network.

YouTube Takes Clips Mobile

In a move likely to spur the growth of mobile video, YouTube will allow subscribers of Verizon Wireless' V Cast media service to view a selection of videos on their mobile phones starting in early December. The deal marks YouTube's first major agreement with a wireless carrier and gives Verizon at least a temporary advantage over its competitors in trying to lure customers to sign up for lucrative data services.

Monday, November 27

ValueClick

Check this out:

www.valueclickvideo.com

Break.com Raises Pay For Video Creators

VIDEO SITE BREAK.COM REPORTEDLY IS going to start paying at least $400
to some consumers who upload original clips, the New York Post and
Reuters reported Sunday. The site previously paid $250 per video.

CBS Scores Viewers With YouTube Alliance

The most popular videos on YouTube aren't skateboarders crashing into
railings, but clips of CBS programs--some featuring YouTube-like
videos, such as two women wrestling on "NCIS." Another big hit is
"Borat" star Sacha Baron Cohen's interview on David Letterman. The
views--more than 1 million strong--bode well for the future of branded
entertainment.

Wednesday, November 22

Tuesday, November 21

Webshots Adds Video-Sharing to Photo Albums

CNET's photo-sharing property Webshots will now let users post video
clips to their photo albums, and Intel is sponsoring the launch of the
new service.

Monday, November 20

ROO Group Completes $15.5 Million Private Equity Financing

ROO, a global leader in online video solutions for content providers, advertisers and Websites, today announced it has completed a private equity financing with gross proceeds of $15.5 million, in a common stock transaction. All of the participants in the transaction are accredited institutional investors, including 033 Asset Management LLC, Ashford Capital Management, and Tudor Investment Corporation. ROO will use the net proceeds from the sale of common stock to fund ongoing operations and to make additional investments in sales and marketing.

Akamai to Acquire Nine Systems

Akamai Technologies, Inc. and Nine Systems Corp., Inc. announced today that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement for Akamai to acquire Nine Systems in a merger transaction. The closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions,
including the approval of Nine Systems' stockholders, is expected by year-end. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Akamai earnings on a normalized, diluted per share basis* in 2007.
The acquisition of Nine Systems provides Akamai with a robust rich media management framework upon which services can be built to enable customers to more effectively control and monetize their digital assets. Akamai plans to integrate Nine Systems' Stream OS, a suite of configurable rich media management tools that enable easy production and publishing of content online, into the global Akamai network. Akamai's goal is to provide customers worldwide with a unified solution for managing content and controlling delivery across the industry's most pervasive rich media distribution platform.

Nielsen to Launch Video-On-Demand Measurement Service

Nielsen Media Research announced today that on December 11, 2006 it will launch a new service to measure nationally distributed Video On Demand (VOD) content using the same National People Meter sample it uses to provide television ratings to national programmers. As with
Nielsen's current ratings, clients will receive household and demographic ratings for VOD content along with other detailed audience information. By measuring VOD content in its national ratings panel, Nielsen will enable clients, for the first time, to compare the performance of programs airing on traditional channels with the performance of those same programs on demand.

EMI Music and Gotuit Media Announce Content Licensing Partnership

Gotuit Media (www.gotuit.com), a digital media company delivering a growing array of on-demand video products, and one of the fastest growing online video portals, today announced it has signed a
multi-year strategic content licensing agreement with EMI Music. Through Gotuit Media, EMI will provide its extensive catalog of music videos from many of the world's most popular artists to consumers on both the Gotuit Broadband Video Portal at www.gotuit.com in the U.S. and through the Gotuit Video on Demand (VOD) cable service, available on select Time Warner and Comcast cable systems.

Gotuit will now offer music video fans free access to EMI's large catalog of music videos from artists such as Chingy, Corrine Bailey Rae, Coldplay, Fat Boy Slim, Gorillaz, Ice Cube, Janet Jackson, Norah Jones, KORN, OK GO!, KT Tunstall, Latin sensations RBD, Keith Urban and many more − whether they're watching online, or on the couch.

Yamgo Launches Extreme Sports Mobile TV Channel

Yamgo, one of the UK's leading extreme sports mobile content providers
and publishers, has launched a Mobile TV channel dedicated to extreme
sports entertainment. Yamgo TV works on over 60 different mobile
devices through the ROK TV (www.rok.tv ) service and is available in
the UK, USA and China and will be available shortly in other countries
including Thailand, South Africa and Malaysia.

New Video Management Solution for User-Generated Content

NATIV, the media technology consultancy, today announced the launch
of its state of the art solution for the management of rich media
content. 'Mio' is designed to automate the process of validating,
cataloging and filtering video and audio content. Supporting every
well-known file format and codec, it is particularly well suited to
managing large volumes of unstructured and user generated video and
audio content.

With the explosion of video and music content across myriad networks
and devices, businesses are finding new and exciting means of
monetising rich media content. However, as the video ecosystem and its
associated formats expand, there is an increasing need to manage large
volumes of business- and user-generated media content in a more
efficient, accurate and automated fashion.

Re-purposing, storing and distributing rich media content can be
costly, so it's important to analyse inbound files rigorously before
deciding whether to process them further. However, content cataloguing
and validation can be time consuming, labour intensive and
error-prone. What may at first seem like a manageable problem quickly
becomes even more complex when considering the large number of new and
legacy digital media formats and standards currently in use. Combine
this with the facts that rich media content is increasingly user
generated, comes in huge volumes and carries no quality guarantee or
metadata and the costs mount up.

Announcing movy.tv: A Revolution in Mobile Media Sharing & Distribution

Movidity Inc. today introduced movy.tv, the world's first truly mobile
video sharing web service. Designed specifically for mobile use,
movy.tv will revolutionize multimedia sharing and distribution,
opening up endless possibilities for consumer, commercial and
professional users.

As with other popular video sharing websites, such as YouTube(r),
movy.tv will allow members to share video/audio media with other
Internet users. However, movy.tv takes a dramatic departure from
legacy video sharing in that it makes streaming of on-demand media
available to millions of mobile devices worldwide.

Launch of Website Devoted to TV Ads

The site, to be called adTV, will be devoted to old and new TV
commercials, dished up to visitors as entertainment. It is due to be
launched on January 15, 2006.

Online Video Advertising: The Myth of the Inventory Drought

Very good post by Randy Kilgore:

WE HEAR IT ALL THE time: there's a scarcity of inventory for online
video advertisers. Although it seems to be the prevailing wisdom, it's
simply not true.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the top 50 sites
account for 94% of all online ad spending. Some quick
back-of-the-envelope calculations reveal a significant surfeit of
great sites with an enormous amount of available inventory that are
part of that remaining 6%--outside the top 50. There's certainly a lot
to be said for the benefits of advertising on top sites, but 94% is
just a ridiculous number.

Clearly, the "destination" sites--the networks and the portals--are
selling out their video inventory, but in many cases that inventory is
being thrown in with the TV buy. Then we have the "mid-tail" and the
"long-tail." As more and more small and medium-sized Web publishers
bring video content online, inventory is exploding. And many of these
sites are using video in nontraditional ways.

According to comScore, in both July and August of this year, 7 billion
videos were streamed in the U.S. But according to Accustream, in July
the available pre-roll marketplace was just over a billion streams.
And that billion is highly concentrated on a few large sites.

Shorter ads (:7 - :10) that are designed specifically for online video
opportunities create a better user experience and are driving
publishers to continue to add in-stream advertising to their video
content en masse.

Effective use of video doesn't necessarily have to be pre-roll. Many
advertisers are finding in-banner video to be extremely compelling.
There is certainly no limit to the inventory for in-banner video ads,
and many marketers find that the level of engagement that's available
with in-banner video generates a significant brand boost.

Engaging post-roll is an effective option--and as more and more
long-form video comes online, multiple mid-roll ads increase the
number of ads slots that are available. Many advertisers are also
finding successful placements with video sponsorships.

New technologies and formats that are developing (e.g., video chats
with ads included, online games with video ads before and between
scenes) all add to the potential volume of inventory. And for
advertisers lacking video assets, there are still ways to take
advantage, including building flash ads to play in video spots.

Finally, there's the explosion of consumer-generated video. Although
it scares most marketers to lose their brand in the world of
user-generated, still with the usage of behavioral targeting
technology, it's possible to find in-market consumers.

Inventory scarcity? Drought of online video ad avails? Not at all.
Just a lack of creativity. It's time to wake up to the huge
opportunity that's available beyond the top few sites. It's time to
look at the long tail, because that's where the volume of video
inventory is waiting to be discovered.

Randy Kilgore is chief revenue officer for Tremor Network, responsible
for managing the company's sales and inventory growth. He was
previously senior vice president of advertising for Dow Jones Online.

Universal Music Sues MySpace

Continuing its aggressive campaign to remove unlicensed clips from
video-sharing sites, Universal Music Group Friday sued social
networking site MySpace.com for copyright infringement. The suit
charges that MySpace doesn't adequately police users from posting
Universal-owned clips.

Thursday, November 16

CBS, TiVo Team Up For TiVocast, Bring Web Content To TV

CBS has signed up with TiVo's new service, which takes Web content to
the TV screen - it's the first broadcast network to do so.

YouTube Adds NHL Channel, Hinting at Future Strategy

The NHL will soon have its own brand channel on YouTube, and the
video-sharing site is negotiating with other sports leagues for
similar channels.

Wednesday, November 15

Orb Trumps YouTube, Takes Site Wireless First

YouTube will debut a wireless version of its popular online
video-sharing site next year, but a new software program from Orb
Networks will already allow users to view YouTube videos with their
cell phones.

EyeWonder Flashes Video

Rich media advertising company EyeWonder has released the AdWonder
Flash Component, a Flash-based ad module specifically designed to let
agencies create and test EyeWonder rich media and video
advertisements.

Tuesday, November 14

Ad Execs See TV Budgets Moving Into Online Video

---------- Forwarded message ----------
A MAJORITY OF TOP AD industry executives expect a significant share of
their broadcast and cable TV advertising budgets to shift to online
video buys within the next few years, according to results of an
annual survey on industry trends released Tuesday morning by the
American Advertising Federation. More than half (53%) of the 168
respondents said they expect 20% or more of their TV advertising
budgets to shift into online video by 2010 (see table below). "The
determining factor will be the sheer volume of online opportunities,"
said one agency executive participating in the survey. "Will there be
a handful of sites that rise above the fray or will there be so sites
to choose from that the media dollars can't possibly cover enough
bases to be effective?"
The study also indicates that ad executives believe traditional
broadcast TV outlets will be the most effective in integrating
traditional TV and online media into seamless marketing solutions for
advertisers and agencies. Asked which media they believed to be most
"innovative" at leading such integrations, 21.7% of the respondents
cited broadcast TV, followed by newspapers and magazines (18.5% each),
cable TV (15.2%), and radio and out-of-home (8.7% each).
Asked which traditional medium is most effective in terms of driving
traffic to advertiser Web sites, 26.0% cited magazines, followed by
broadcast TV (17.8%), cable TV (16.4%), newspapers (13.7%), radio
(11.0%), and radio (8.2%).
The survey also indicates that online ad budgets are expected to rise
by an average of 42 percent in 2007 vs. 2006. Respondents said they
expected 23.2% of their total 2007 ad budget to be spent online, up
from 16.3% of their 2006 advertising spending.
The study, which was prepared by Atlantic Media Company, is the fourth
annual survey to be issued by the AAF.

Share Of TV Ads Shifting To Online Video By 2010
Less Than 1%: 2.6%
1-5%: 9.8%
6-9%: 11.1%
10-19%: 33.3%
20-29%: 34.8%
30-39%: 11.1%
40-49%: 5.9%
More than 50%: 1.3%
Source: 2006 AAF Survey of Industry Leaders on Advertising Industry
and New Media Trends. Base = 168 respondents.

Study: Online Video Influences IT Purchases

Marketers that want to influence business executives should consider
buying ads in emerging media, including online video, social networks
and wikis. That's among the conclusions of a new study by Universal
McCann and KnowledgeStorm.

Sony Syndication Sales Team to Sell Digital Media

Convergence is the word, as Sony Pictures Television's syndication ad
sales team will now sell Sony's digital media properties as well.

Monday, November 13

Pre-Roll Is Online Video's Short-Term Solution

Online video has grown by leaps and bounds, but marketers are still
trying to figure out how best to exploit it - with video ad spend
constituting merely 0.6 percent of TV ad budgets this year, though the
online audience for it is about two-thirds the size of TV, David
Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer, points out.

What online video marketing models will succeed may not yet be clear,
but the currently dominant pre-roll approach is likely not the best
answer in the long term, writes ClickZ citing speakers at Ad:Tech in
New York last week. More than 90 percent of pre-roll inventory has
been typically sold out at any given time this year, and it will
likely stay so for a while as marketers simply run their TV spots as
pre-roll ads.

They do so, because it's the path of least resistance toward
transitioning online, which is what major marketers finally want to
do, according to Janet Balis, SVP of sales development for AOL Media
Networks. She says savvier marketers are to more gracefully integrate
brand into online content via product placement and sponsorships.

Google is also looking for alternatives to pre-roll and has instead
tested persistent branding ads above the video content and 15-second
post-roll ads, according to Daniel Blackman, strategic partner for
development at Google Video.

Citing the success of contextual text ads, he says "users respond to
less intrusive, more relevant, targeted ads," and the challenge is to
apply a similar approach to online video.

Social Networks traffic

Fame TV To Broadcast Revver Clips

Video-sharing site Revver is poised to increase the compensation it
pays to consumers who create the site's clips as part of a new
distribution deal with U.K. broadcast network Fame TV.

Friday, November 10

Viewpoint Releases Unicast Video Cube Ad Format

Unicast, the advertising division of Viewpoint Corporation (NASDAQ:
VWPT), a leading internet marketing technology company, today
introduced the Unicast Video Cube, the latest offering from the
company's Internet Marketing Technology (IMT) product series. The
Unicast Video Cube will be offered to both agencies and publishers as
a highly customizable rich media ad format. A demo of the Video Cube
can be viewed at http://www.viewpoint.com/demos/videocube/.

The Video Cube is an expandable custom ad format that seamlessly
integrates multiple media types within one ad unit; including a
real-time 3D model that can be textured with multiple 2D images and
streaming videos, all of which can be controlled through an
interactive Flash interface. This ad format enables users to expand
the Video Cube to float on top of a web page, where the 3D Video Cube
can be moved, turned and manipulated. Once expanded, users can select
and view videos from any one of the six side panels of the Cube with a
simple mouse click, or by using the Flash navigation bar below. The
navigation interface provides users with content selection menus and
video controls that can launch any video into full-screen mode without
additional load time.

Google Video Sued For Copyright Infringement

GOOGLE VIDEO IS FACING A copyright infringement lawsuit, the company
revealed this week in a filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.

The lawsuit, filed in France, seeks $192,465 (150,000 Euros) in
damages; it's based on allegations related to a documentary that
surfaced on the site. Google said it removed the video as soon as it
learned that owners hadn't authorized its release. "This is a small
lawsuit over a single video that appeared briefly. We have procedures
in place that allow copyright owners to tell us if their content is
placed on Google Video without authorization. When we receive
appropriate notice, we quickly remove the content from Google Video,"
the company said in a statement.

Video – The Future of Search and Online Advertising

Excellent blog post from Eric Kintz on HP's blog:

Check it here.
OPG Kitecam test

Congrats for that one!

Flavorpill Partners with Current TV to Generate Viewer-Created Video Content for Web and Broadcast

Flavorpill and Current TV are excited to announce a collaborative
partnership whose goal is to help shape the future of TV. The
partnership will tap Flavorpill's audience of more than 500,000
culture-savvy subscribers to create original videos, or VC2 content,
about cultural happenings. Once uploaded online, the videos will be
voted on by the Current TV community, with the best aired on
television to Current TV's 30 million homes.

The program invites Flavorpill subscribers to create short, 2-7 minute
videos, or "pods," focused on art and culture in their communities,
including artist interviews, band profiles, and other
"behind-the-scenes" reporting on Flavorpill-listed events,
under-the-radar trends, and emerging cultural movements. The "Current
Mobile" pod offers a more on-the-fly option, asking budding
videographers to use their cell phones' video cameras to capture
cultural events (in 30-second bites) as they unfold - be it killer
graffiti art in the making or just a striking fashion statement.

Blastro Networks Launches Y’all Wire Online Country Music Video Site

Blastro Networks, independent operator of Internet destinations for
music videos, movie reviews and original shows, today announced the
launch of Y'all Wire (www.yallwire.com), a new music video site
dedicated to country, bluegrass, alternative country and Christian
music videos.

Devoted entirely to country music lovers, YallWire.com will be the
third music video site hosted by Blastro Networks, joining rap/hip hop
site Blastro (www.blastro.com) and rock site Roxwel (www.roxwel.com).
Each of the Blastro Networks sites is designed with a specific
audience in mind, offering advertisers highly targeted audiences. In
addition to multiple banner ad options, Blastro offers video ad slots
before music video plays.

Video Streaming Service Mydeo Launches Subscription Offer

Mydeo.com, the video streaming company partnered with Microsoft, has
re-launched as a subscription-based service with hugely improved
functionality.

In response to feedback from customers Mydeo's service will now allow
people to stream videos with a low monthly charge – the service is
advertising free and, with no charge for the first month, you get high
quality streaming of up to 100 minutes of video.

myYearbook.com Joins VideoEgg Network

SOCIAL MEDIA SITE MYYEARBOOK.COM WILL allow members to post video to
the site through a new deal with VideoEgg, the companies announced
Tuesday. With the new deal, users will be able to upload video to the
site from nearly any type of device. myYearbook.com will also join
VideoEgg's ad network, which includes other youth-focused social
networking sites.

Visual Search Engine Like.com Launched

Visual computing firm Riya on Wednesday launched Like.com, a visual
search engine that allows consumers to search for products by
appearance rather than just text, via a collection of celebrity
fashion photos.

Google Aims To Broaden Video Syndication Program

Google intends to soon expand its new video syndication service, a
company executive said Tuesday. Speaking at an industry conference,
Daniel Blackman, Google Video's strategic partner development manager,
said that the search giant aimed to enable publishers in its AdSense
network to syndicate their content, while also allowing any marketers
to serve ads into streams.

Online Video Advertising: 'You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!'


Rent or buy movies through your Xbox

Microsoft is getting into the movie business. The company will
announce plans Tuesday for Xbox 360 owners to buy or rent films and
television shows via its online Xbox Live Marketplace.

The program, which will launch Nov. 22, expects to have over 1,000
hours of available content before the end of the year. Microsoft
(Charts), which will unveil the program at BMO Capital Markets'
Interactive Entertainment Conference, is not expected to announce
pricing details until later this month.

eMarketer: Online Video Ads To Surge 89% In '07

Research firm eMarketer now projects that ad revenue from online video
will reach $775 million next year--an upward revision from its
previous estimate of $640 million. By 2010, online video ad spending
will soar to $2.9 billion, or 11.5% of all dollars going to online
ads, according to a new report, released Monday.

Thursday, November 9

DoubleClick Crosses the In-Streams

Digital ad company DoubleClick today launched DART Motif for
In-Stream, a version of DoubleClick's DART Motif ad platform tailored
specifically for in-stream video advertising.

Tuesday, November 7

My new friend:


Check this out:

http://www.msdewey.com/

Revver, CAA Forge Alliance

VIDEO SITE REVVER HAS STRUCK a deal to work with Creative Artists
Agency, the companies announced Monday. Revver is powering submissions
for CAA client Independent Feature Project's online competition, "What
is the IFP?" which calls on users to submit short-form video clips to
the IFP Web site. Revver also is working with CAA client Fangoria,
which offers news about horror movies, to enable user-generated
content to be shared virally via its Web site. Revver splits ad
revenue equally with content creators.

Thursday, November 2

Web Video Viewers Annoyed by In-Stream Ads

A study by Forrester Research discovered that 80% of web video viewers
said in-stream ads - those placed before and after video clips - were
"annoying," and 75% said they ignore them, AdWeek reports. The study
also found that viewers were much more likely to accept ads placed
alongside clips, or text-based ads.

In-stream ads are popular with advertisers because they make messages
easier to convey to viewers. But those viewers are used to viewing
video clips on sites such as YouTube without these placements, which
they now view as intrusive.

"When you see what's going on with YouTube and short form content,
using the old mode of inserting ads into content when you're looking
at a three-minute video is not going to work as well," said Forrester
Research analyst Brian Haven.

Dow Jones Using Brightcove's Ad Network

Brightcove's new video syndication and ad network has picked up
another client, as Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal
Online, MarketWatch.com and Barron's Online, has begun using its
services.

Hurley: YouTube to Go Mobile

YouTube hopes to have a mobile offering within a year, according to
its cofounder; the announcement comes a month or so after an analyst
said News Corp.'s MySpace would soon be going mobile.

Brightcove central

Here's an interesting post from Bambi Francisco's blog:

Brightcove, a rising star in the sizzling-hot online video sector, is morphing into a promising contender in the heated battle to be the uber-television network for the Internet generation.

Brightcove is expected on Monday to unveil a host of services including a distribution platform for content owners as well as Brightcove.com, a central repository to access the aggregated works of its big-to-small media customers.

The Manhattan-based company, which burst onto the scene with high-profile venture backers, such as Accel Partners, Hearst and InterActiveCorp. (IACI), started two years ago as a Web-based publishing toolmaker to help media companies or professional individual producers create broadband channels.

Brightcove is pursuing a two-pronged strategy that puts this young upstart in the midst of a war against video aggregators or distributors of movies and television shows, such as Google (GOOG), YouTube, Apple Computer (AAPL), to Amazon.com (AMZN) and next year, Netflix (NFLX).

No doubt, it's a fluid space, with future outcomes as varied as the business models of the companies now competing in it. The opportunity to deliver tomorrow's video has called forth many unlikely rivals from one with roots as an online bookseller, to a PC-maker, a search engine and a site where anyone could share their favorite cat-in-the-bathtub home videos. Now, Brightcove, the toolmaker, wants in.

Perhaps it's not surprising to see many companies with variegated pasts collide as they iterate their way into promising new business opportunities. But, while they may be eyeing the same goal today, their motivations are certainly different.

It seems to me that one possible fate of this publishing toolmaker to the media stars, with increasing reliance on ad-revenue scraps, would be the path journeyed by DoubleClick, an ad-serving company which went private last year. Despite the booming online advertising market, DoubleClick's general ad-serving business seemed to commoditize.

Brightcove's open-distribution approach

Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire is too smart for that. Or, he's got excellent advisers.

"We're the next generation of 'television operators' or 'platform operators' as they're known, which includes the kind of role that cable and satellite operators have provided in the past," Allaire, who came to MarketWatch studios for an interview with me, boldly claimed. (Full disclosure: MarketWatch is a client of Brightcove).

"However, we've designed our model to reflect the way the Internet operates, which is, of course, radically different than the closed systems of past distribution," he said. "On the Internet, content owners can have their own brands, their own 'spoke' destination sites, and relationships to consumers and affiliates, and that's very much what we've enabled with the launch of the Brightcove Network and our consumer and syndication marketplaces." (Please visit my MarketWatch blog for my interview with Allaire.)

Translation: Allaire's approach is to be the platform layer for content publishers across the Web; the distributor across the Web for smaller content owners; and at the same time be video central as Brightcove.com becomes the one central destination site for the content produced by all its partners.

The network

The Brightcove Network is essentially the name for the company's combined distribution and advertising solutions for content producer needs. Brightcove's distribution platforms range from Brightcove.com's destination site, Time Warner's (TWX) AOL Video, and video search portals. Content owners can also generate advertising by using Brightcove's AdNet or Pay Media service.

While certainly advertising relationships and a broad distribution strategy is a good structure to have, Brightcove.com could be the biggest beneficiary in the future.

As the main hub, Brightcove.com is a place where the company's large media customers - from studios, newspapers, music labels, etc. - can distribute some their shows for free, for rent or for purchase, will share shelf space with the productions of individuals or free agent producers. It's not much different than what we see on YouTube or Google, or the many smaller video-sharing sites, such as Gubba, that have struck deals with copyright owners of popular shows.

But it's hardly game over. And, Brightcove has one advantage. It already has relationships with some media companies since, well, it's had the pleasure of being the toolmaker to the stars. Among the companies it calls its broadband channel partners include Warner Bros. Telepictures, SonyBMG, Warner Music Group, Bravo (NBC Universal), Oxygen, and New York Times. Monster.com (MNST) is one of Brightcove's clients.

To accommodate its clients' interest in tapping into the user-generated video phenomenon, whereby the audience offers up videos to get recognized or to win a prize, Brightcove is launching a private-label video-upload service. This service is similar to the ones that launched last week. The difference is that those services overlay social network features on top of video.

Ambitious Allaire

Many might say that Brightcove is going in all sorts of directions to hit on all the popular themes of the year. Allaire's ambition raises the question of whether he can pull off so much at one time. It's no wonder Allaire is currently nailing down another round of venture financing, adding to the already $28 million he received in prior rounds.

Money helps, indeed. There are so many video-sharing sites that want America's video creations that the only way to win over the content owner, however big or small, is to offer economic incentives. After all, recognition as an incentive only works if there's a critical mass of people watching.

To provide incentive to content producers, Brightcove is going to give 50% of the gross advertising revenue to content producers who use its broadband channel platform. That's a nice premium over the portion that video-sharing site Revver offers to content owners, which is a split of ad fees net of certain costs.

But it's unclear whether Brightcove will top Metacafe's offer to pay $5 CPM (thousand impressions). After all, user-generated content may sell for only a $1 per CPM. Metacafe is one of the top video-sharing destination sites. It, too, plans to announce its economic incentives on Monday. (Go to my blog to watch my interview with Metacafe CEO Arik Czerniak.)

Another video site that pays for content is Break.com. Founder Keith Richman told me that his company has spent $280,000 for about 1,000 user-generated video clips.

So will Brightcove have a chance at being the top destination or marketplace for videos on the Web? He seems to certainly have sets his sights higher than companies that just want to be destination sites.

As I said above, it's a two-pronged strategy Allaire seems to be taking. In many ways, it's like Google, which seems to have figured out how to be a centralized repository for advertising, but the underlying provider of ads for sites across the Web. But in media, content owners always get a bit sensitive about aggregators for fear they'll lose their audience to them. Brightcove, though it will let its media partners decide whether video is played on Brightcove.com or the partner sites, faces a potential problem of being friend and foe.

Whether Allaire can prove to be more friend than foe will be one of his challenges next year.

Wednesday, November 1

FT.com Launches Exclusive Video Interviews with Global Business Leaders Powered by ROO Media

The Financial Times has launched an exclusive series of video
interviews with global business leaders called View From The Top. The
interviews, hosted by ROO Media, the global provider of online video
technology and syndicated content, feature global CEOs giving their
views on the world of business today and predictions for the future of
their industries. Since launching View From The Top FT Video traffic
has quadrupled.

Each week, FT.com hosts new 5-minute interviews with global CEOs.
Interviews currently showing on the site include Citigroup's Robert
Rubin, Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP, Time Warner Chairman Richard Parsons
and John Thain, chief executive of the NYSE. Future interviews will
feature Jeff Immelt of General Electric, Tom Glocer of Reuters and
Fred Smith of FedEx. The interviews have been sponsored by Barclays in
the US and Landrover in the UK.

AOL and Brightcove Launch New Distribution Service for Selling Digital Video Downloads

AOL and Brightcove launched today a distribution service that can
enable video publishers to sell high-quality video downloads through
the AOL Video portal (http://video.aol.com) and receive up to 70% of
the revenue generated from their sales. The new service promises to
expand the distribution options for video publishers and the choices
for consumers.

Using Brightcove, any video publisher can easily have their video
downloads distributed and sold through AOL(r) Video. In addition,
videos can be automatically indexed in the AOL Video Search engine and
can be browsed through the AOL Video portal. Consumers will be able to
purchase and download the videos and watch them on their computers,
network connected TVs or other devices.

Microsoft Releases Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP

Enhanced Capabilities Plus Seamless Integration With URGE Make for
All-New Digital Entertainment Experiences

Streaming Media West: AOL Video presentation

Tim Tuttle, VP AOL video, shared what he sees as the four contributing
factors to the massive surge in popularity and predicted continued
growth for online video. The first is that consumers love to watch
videos online. He said sarcastically that only the guy in the cubicle
next to you watches video online, but quickly came back to reality.
"Well, over half of internet users watch online video multiple times a
month", he said. Whether it's a video on the blog that an internet
surfer just stumbles across or an email link from friends, more and
more folks are sharing and watching video online.

The second contributing factor to the growth of online video is the
content creator who loves finding ways to share videos. New delivery
methods mean direct access to people who are interested in viewing
your video. Tuttle claimed that content producers are streaming seven
billion videos a month.

The third factor that has caused this growth is advertisers. Hungry
for new ways to interact with consumers, advertisers are paying huge
amounts--$25-35 CPM, according to Tuttle--and getting exact
measurements on who's watching and what they are watching. This is one
of the areas that is actually pumping revenue back into the R&D for
online video and showing a profit.

Fourth and finally, changes in technology are spurring the rapid
acceleration in online video. Cheap hardware, open-source software,
widespread broadband adoption, and a culture that is more open to
embracing new technology have all created a boom in internet-delivered
video. All this also leads to the proliferation of high-quality,
easy-to-use and easy-to-share online video.

And all these converging factors have led to the next wave of online
video: search. Tuttle is convinced that the next generation of online
video will be a one-stop shop website that will let you search and
find relevant content. Obviously, with the problem of effective,
personalized video search still very far from being solved, this
realization may be several years away, but he asserted that it will be
here sooner than later. There are issues still lurking with video
search, and several of the attendee questions revealed the industry's
desire for standards on how to tag, organize, and find videos. Until
this industry standard is formalized, we will still be struggling to
find our favorite clips of The Daily Show and Mentos/Diet Coke bottle
rockets easily.

ValueClick exceeds expectations; profit up 52%

ValueClick reported third-quarter profit rose 52%, exceeding
expectations, as it benefited from the growth in online advertising.
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, ValueClick said profit rose to $16.8
million, or 17 cents a share, from $11 million or 13 cents a share a
year ago. Sales rose to $137.9 million, a 69% increase from the $81.4
million reported a year ago. The results topped the expectations of
analysts, who expected ValueClick to report $134 million in sales and
earnings of 14 cents per share

TBS to Launch Comedy Broadband Network

Turner Broadcasting plans to launch a broadband comedy network in January.

Brightcove Debuts Free Internet TV Network

Internet TV mainstay Brightcove today flipped on the Brightcove
Network, a new service that emphasizes user-generated content by
letting content owners, no matter how small or large, launch their own
commercial Internet video channels at no cost while generating
generate revenue through advertising and video download sales.

IAC Has Strong Q3, Thanks in Part to Ask.com

IAC/InterActiveCorp reported increased revenues, with strong
performance in its media and advertising businesses, including
Ask.com and Citysearch.

Yahoo Wants AOL, Might Itself Be Acquired

Yahoo reportedly approached Time Warner recently about buying AOL; meanwhile,  some analysts are speculating that it would make just as much sense if Yahoo  itself were acquired.

Atlas Goes In-Stream

Marketing technology provider Atlas, an aQuantive company, has launched Atlas In-Stream Video, a platform to inject online advertising into web-based streaming video and round out the full range of banner, search and rich media advertising services already provided by the Atlas Digital Marketing Suite.