Seth Gilbert, 09-10-2007
Joining a host of production houses from startups to media powerhouses, Warner Brothers will release a wide offering of original video programming for Internet distribution.
The new programming, expected to be revealed today in greater detail, reverses an initial strategy that aimed to offload production costs onto advertisers. Instead, as part of revitalized web strategy that includes a television spin off of their site TMZ.com and a planned animation-only video portal (called T-Works) , Warner is planning to spend at least $3m for web production.
The slate of content will include at least 24 productions in formats ranging from games and serials to short films. Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert, 09-6-2007
For a long time, the holy grail of the home movie industry has been true video on demand; the ability to pick what you want to watch, when you want to watch it and have it instantly without having to move from the body cradling comfort of your old worn out couch. Many have tried to give consumers this kind of control over their programming choices, many have come up with partial solutions, many have come close but none have fully succeeded in making the dream possible, yet. A solution providing deep depth of available content and instantaneous delivery to the TV (not the PC) hasn’t been done. Vudu, a well funded startup, announced in April to much fanfare that they’d figured out how to do it. Today, they reveal their efforts. Today, Vudu officially launches.
Vudu is built around a $399 set-top box with a 250GB hard drive and your high speed Internet connection. Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert,
IPTV company Joost quietly made their first acquisition earlier this week (at least quietly relatively the hype that usually surrounds them.) Joost bought digital programming guide OnTheToob.com (and with it, its developer). Terms were not disclosed but the likely cost was trivial.
OnTheToob developed RSS feeds and channel guide interfaces built around the Joost platform. The company, which was not much more than a personal project, had been working with Joost since April. As part of the deal, the creator of the technology will join Joost as an employee.
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Seth Gilbert, 08-31-2007
Just a week ago, I wrote, half in jest that 8 figure deals were becoming increasingly common and frighteningly familiar Internet video startups. I didn’t think I’d be reiterating the point again so soon. But, turns out, another round of extreme funding has already come down the pipeline. I thought wrong.
Besting Veoh’s $25m and Metacafe’s recent $30m but shy of Joost’s $45m and Brightcove’s $59.5m, French-based video sharing site Dailymotion has raised a $34m second round. The round was led by European firms Advent Venture Partners (London) and AGF Private Equity (Paris). On top of $9.5m contributed last October, it brings the total funding raised for the site in one year to $43.5.
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Seth Gilbert, 08-27-2007
Fans of South Park can sleep easy for a few more years. In a deal signed Friday, Comedy Central’s most lucrative and most enduring (11 seasons and counting) franchise, the irreverent comedy cartoon, will see at least three more years of new episodes. The program (and its creators) will also take the reigns of its online destiny as part of a joint venture that creates a web destination at South Park Studios.
To date, South Park and its legions of fans have languished in the absence of a legitimate, authorized, Internet distribution platform for anything and everything that is South Park. For certain, there has been availability of content – offerings on Comedy Central’s home site, legions of fan sites – but with Viacom (parent of Comedy Central) embroiled in a billion dollar suit with YouTube over copyright violations, legal video clips, outtakes and other stock haven’t been widely available. Even Joost which has a partnership deal with Viacom has not had the ability to broadcast South Park.
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Seth Gilbert, 08-22-2007
Borrowing a page from IPTV company Joost, YouTube is embracing interactive overlay advertising as a way to monetize their popular video portal.
Beginning today, Google will display the semi transparent, interactive ads on the bottom of select user-generated videos hosted on the YouTube site. The ads will reportedly occupy no more than the bottom 20 percent of the screen. They will appear after a fifteen second delay and disappear after a ten second presentation (unless the viewer engages the ad with a mouse click).
Unlike pre-roll ads, a competing ad format which holds a viewer hostage before the desired content is played, overlays are a relatively unobtrusive solution aimed at minimizing the negative impact on the user experience.
Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert,
Eight figure funding rounds for net video companies are starting to become frighteningly familiar. Joining Joost, Brightcove, and Veoh, Palo Alto based Metacafe has become the latest winner of the high-valuation funding lottery.
It was announced today that the company closed a $30m 3rd Round of financing. The deal was led by Highland Capital Partners and DAG Ventures. Previous investors Accel and Benchmark also participated (Accel has also invested in Brightcove). The cumulative investment in the video portal now exceeds $50m. Click to Read More
