• LongTail Video Updates Corporate Name to JW Player

    When your flagship product's name becomes far better known than your company's name, it's likely time for a corporate identity makeover. That's the logic behind LongTail Video's official name change today to "JW Player" as company CEO Dave Otten told me last week. JW Player is the company's hugely successful video player, now used by over 2 million sites. The company has also changed the name of its online video platform, Bits on the Run, to "JW Platform."

    Dave said those 2 million sites are driving 6 billion video streams per month, by 700 million unique viewers. 80% of streams are now international, and fully 20-25% are from mobile devices. Dave added that mobile is a huge development focus for the company and over the past year it included support for HLS, VAST advertising and responsive design. Coming soon are Android and iOS SDKs so developers can use JW Player natively in mobile apps. Dave also mentioned off the record some very cool upcoming integrations which would further expand JW Player's usability.