VideoNuze Posts

Periodically VideoNuze makes complimentary research available that is beneficial to our audience of broadband decision-makers.

Today I'm pleased to offer for complimentary download a handy one page digital media workflow "snapshot" created by Marketing Mechanics, a consulting and market intelligence firm run by Ellen Grace Henson. The snapshot identifies features and capabilities for over 20 broadband technology companies.

Ellen has been in and around the digital media industry for many years in product management and marketing roles and has lately consulted with Kontiki and Move Networks among others. She reached out recently to familiarize me with her work and to share the snapshot. Though she readily concedes the document is not meant to be comprehensive, it provides a very good framework for making sense of the crowded broadband landscape.

The ecosystem of companies supplying necessary products and services to content creators who want to capitalize on broadband's rise is complex and dynamic. I'm often asked for data and comparisons of industry vendors; I think the snapshot can begin to fill that role. It will no doubt evolve over time, as the industry changes and customer requirements grow.

The snapshot dates to when Ellen was consulting for Kontiki (when it was owned by VeriSign), but it was updated as of September 2008. Ellen pulled together the information by talking directly to the companies cited; by definition that means readers will need to carefully assess the data in the context of their own experience and knowledge.

Click here for complimentary download

It's been hard not to notice the recently growing roster of digital media/broadband video executives who are either leaving their jobs or jumping to other companies.

Among the many recent changes:

• Bill Day (moved to CEO, ScanScout from Chief Media Officer, Marchex)
• Ned Desmond (leaving as President, Time, Inc Interactive)
• Tony Fadell (leaving as SVP, iPod Division, Apple)
• Karin Gilford (moved to SVP, Fancast/Comcast from VP/GM, Yahoo Entertainment)
• Bob Greene (left as EVP, Advanced Services, Starz)
• Kevin Johnson (moved to CEO, Juniper Networks from President, Platforms & Services Division, Microsoft)
• George Kliavkoff (leaving as Chief Digital Officer, NBCU)
• Michael Mathieu (moved to CEO, YuMe from President, Freedom Communications Internet Division)
• Scott Moore (leaving as SVP, Media Group, Yahoo)
• Herb Scannell (moved from CEO to Executive Chairman, Next New Networks)
• David Verklin (moved to CEO, Canoe Ventures from CEO, Aegis Media Americas)

Of course there are many more as well.

There's no blanket explanation for all of this movement. Senior executives - particularly those with strong track records in unchartered territory like digital media and broadband video - are always in demand by competitors. And established companies who can't execute or who are losing altitude in their core businesses become fertile ground for executive recruiters. Then there are always personal reasons for causing executive change (family matters, geographic restrictions, etc.).

The whole digital media and broadband space is extremely dynamic. Major incumbents continue to struggle with defining their strategies and how to organize themselves properly to execute. The financial meltdown has caused huge profit pressure, prompting operational streamlining.

We're less than a week away from our inaugural Broadband Video Leadership Breakfast on Nov. 10th. The breakfast, in association with CTAM's New York and New England chapters, will be held in Boston at 7:30am, preceding the first full day of the annual CTAM Summit (separate registration).

I'll be moderating the session which is entitled "How to Profit from Broadband Video's Disruptive Impact" and features an A-list group of executives:

• Deanna Brown - President, SN Digital, Scripps Networks
• David Eun - Vice President, Content Partnerships, Google/YouTube
• Roy Price - Director, Digital Video, Amazon
• Fred Seibert - Creative Director/Co-Founder, Next New Networks
• Peter Stern - Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, Time Warner Cable

Click here for more information and to register

I'm so excited about the opportunity to have these 5 executives participate and share their perspectives on what's going on in the broadband video world. We'll dig into many of the themes I've explored on VideoNuze, such as business models, syndication, broadband-only studios, the role of existing and emerging distributors, the impact of the financial crisis and more.

The breakfast is a must attend for all broadband video participants. You're certain to come away with tons of valuable information and insight that can help you navigate the changing video landscape.

The event is technically sold-out, with approximately 250 registrants currently. But we've been able to squeeze in two more tables to accommodate another 10-20 attendees. If you're interested, please register now!

Click here for more information and to register

Back in December, 2007, in my 6 predictions for 2008, I wrote that "2008 is the year of the broadband presidential election." As I re-read those thoughts last night, and reflected on the long campaign that finally comes to a close today, I found myself stunned at just how influential broadband video turned out to be this year.

Consider all of the following: the Obama speech on race now viewed 5 million+ times on his YouTube channel, the breaking of the Jeremiah Wright rants online which were then replayed countless times, the numerous campaign ads aired online first and then migrated to TV, the YouTube debates with user-submitted video questions, the Hillary Clinton crying episode in NH which helped to resuscitate her campaign, the Saturday Night Live Palin sketches that became a viral phenomena, and so on.

In so many ways, broadband video is tailor made for presidential campaigning; in 2008 that became evident. It allows direct, high-impact communications with a huge, dispersed audience, circumventing expensive TV advertising. It augments fund-raising, the lifeblood of all campaigns, by allowing potential donors to get an unprecedented "feel" for the candidate. It allows the candidate to amplify messages in totally unstructured ways. And, along with other web 2.0 tools, it gives the candidate an always-on channel to stay close to supporters, thereby sustaining their interest and enthusiasm.

But it also upends many of the traditional notions about how to manage and control campaigns. With video capture so pervasive, any false move or off-script moment can become the next big game-changer. The news cycle, once so carefully orchestrated by campaigns to carry their messages into voters' living rooms at prescribed hours is now a thing of the past. In fact, in this election mainstream media outlets took to trolling YouTube and other web sites, scrounging for the latest hot video or tidbit of news. All of these things break a campaign's normal rhythms.

There has been a lot said about "change" in this election. What actually comes of those assertions will become better understood beginning tomorrow. What is for certain however, is that if you're a politician or a campaign manager, the 2008 broadband presidential race has permanently changed the way you'll pursue your craft in the future. For voters that's incredibly empowering and for democracy it's enormously invigorating.

Make sure to vote.

Welcome to November. October was a particularly crazy month with the unfolding financial crisis. Here are 3 key themes.

1. Financial crisis hurts all industries; broadband is no exception

In October the financial crisis was omnipresent. During the month I addressed its probable effects on the broadband industry here and here so I'm not going to spend much more time on it today. Suffice to say, for the foreseeable future, the key industry metrics are financing, staffing and customer spending. Conserving cash and getting to breakeven are paramount for all.

In particular, in "Thinking in Terms of a 'GOTI' Objective" I tried to provide some food for thought about why focus is so important right now. Industry CEOs' jobs have gotten a whole lot harder in the wake of the meltdown; those with the best strategic and financial skills will come through the storm, others will encounter significant challenges.

I'm constantly trying to gauge just how developed the broadband video industry actually is. All kinds of indicators continue to suggest to me that we're still in the very early days. For example, in one post this month comparing iTunes and Hulu, it was evident that iTunes is currently far outpacing Hulu in TV episode-related revenues. Remember that Hulu is the undisputed premium ad-supported aggregator. And that the ad-supported business model itself is predicted by most to eventually be far larger than the paid model. That iTunes is so far ahead for now shows how young Hulu really is (in fact, just celebrating its first anniversary) and how much more development the ad-supported model still has ahead of it.

I think another relevant indicator of progress is how well the broadband medium is distinguishing itself from alternatives by capitalizing on its key strengths. In "Broadband Video Needs to Become More Engaging," I noted that while there have recently been positive signs of progress, overall, much of broadband's engagement potential is still untapped. That's why I'm always encouraged by compelling UGV contests like the one Fox and Metacafe unveiled this month or by technology like EveryZing's new MetaPlayer that drives more granular interactivity. To truly succeed, broadband must become more than just an online video-on-demand medium.

As ISPs, cable operators account for the lion's share of broadband Internet access. Further, their ongoing efforts to increase bandwidth widens the universe of addressable homes for high-quality content delivery. Still, their multichannel subscription-based business model is increasingly threatened by broadband's on-demand, a la carte nature. As delivery quality escalates and consumer spending remains pinched, the notion of dropping cable in favor of online-only access become more alluring.

Yet in "Cutting the Cord on Cable: For Most of Us It's Not Happening Any Time Soon," I explained why restricted access to popular cable network programs and an inability to easily view broadband video on the TV will keep cable operators in a healthy position for some time to come. Still, it's a confusing landscape; this month I noticed Time Warner Cable itself helped foster cable bypass, when in the midst of its retransmission standoff with LIN TV, it offered an instructive video for how to watch most broadcast network programming online. Comcast also got into the act, unveiling "Premiere Week" on its Fancast portal. These kinds of initiatives remind consumers there's a lot of good stuff available for free online; all you need is a broadband connection.

Lots more to come in November, stay tuned.

Kudos to Om Malik and crew for putting together NewTeeVee Live: Television Reinvented, which is coming up on Nov. 13th in San Francisco. It's a packed day full of terrific speakers who are on the cutting edge of the video revolution.

As a media partner, VideoNuze readers get a 15% registration discount (equal to $200). Register now!

On Monday I wrote that a key mission of mine while attending the Digital Hollywood Fall conference in LA this week was to dig into what impact the economic crises is having on the broadband video industry. Specifically I was focused on three things: financing, staffing and customer spending effects.

I wasn't terribly surprised by what I heard; people are quite nervous. Most significantly they're nervous about financing. Many I spoke to cited the recent Sequoia Ventures presentation which offers a very harsh assessment of the landscape for financings and startups. I heard a lot of lukewarm responses like "we'll have to see what happens" from folks when asked about their ability to pursue future financings.

That said, some deals are still being done. One in particular is a new venture debt deal announced this morning by Clearleap. I caught up with their CEO Braxton Jarratt at DH, and one of my takeaways from that meeting was that venture investing may well be returning to its roots favoring technology-oriented companies that address well-understood industry pain points.

This shift would not bode well for content-oriented startups where investors are bet more on the startup's ability to create enterprise value from audience generation and ad revenue. Evidence of belt-tightening in the content world abounds, with the latest news of layoffs coming from 60Frames. All signs from DH suggest this is going to be one of the hardest hit sectors, as business models remain nascent and ROIs uncertain (one executive told me that every content startup has already eliminated at least 10-20% of their headcount, even if you haven't read about it publicly). While there's no shortage of interest in broadband content creation, the question is whether the dollars will be there to fund these ventures.

Closely tied to content's success is the video management/publishing platform space. I had a numerous conversations with folks about the large number of competitors and concern that both customer spending slowdowns and limited financing are going to force a shakeout. These companies are being advised to watch their cash carefully.

Lastly, there was lots of discussion, especially on panels, around ad spending in this climate. Optimists felt that the fundamentals of consumer behavior embracing broadband consumption would force advertisers to continue their spending in broadband. Conversely many pessimists said that friction, lack of clear ROIs, a flight to safety (i.e. a bias toward TV advertising) and the general slowdown would all conspire against broadband ad spending. It's hard to ignore the pessimists' arguments here; my hope is that any pullback is relatively shallow.

I've been hearing from a number of colleagues about Kaltura, an open source video management platform, and finally got a chance to learn more in a recent briefing with Lisa Bennett, the company's director of marketing.

VideoNuze readers know I've spilled lots of ink covering the broadband video management and publishing platform space. I've continued to express surprise at the sheer number of companies in this category and the money that's been poured into it by eager venture capital investors. To date there's been a lot of business to go around; of course now the nagging question is whether the economic downturn is going to force an early shakeout.

Kaltura will be putting additional pressure on other competitors if for no other reason than its intention to offer a viable, low-priced alternative video platform. The company is positioning itself as a cost effective and flexible alternative to bigger proprietary platforms on the market. For now, it's not really an apples to apples comparison, as Kaltura has not yet aggressively pursued big media company deals.

One of Kaltura's key differentiators is what Lisa calls its "architecture of participation." This is evident with its range of community-oriented features, user-generated upload capability, online video editing and emphasis on engaging users with projects and collaboration. A perfect example of this latter piece is a deal the company's announcing today where the Coca-Cola Blastbeat program in Ireland (a sort of online, teen-centric battle of the bands project) is using Kaltura's platform.

Adding further weight to its user participation emphasis are deals with the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia for a Kaltura extension allowing wiki builders to easily add video to their sites. Another is Kaltura's recent release of a plug-in for WordPress, one of the most popular blogging platforms. Lisa said the company has a number of other projects of this sort on its roadmap, as it tries to embed itself as the go-to video platform for the large self-serve ecosystem of user-generated content.

Kaltura's relatively new on the video management scene and there's no shortage of competition. Still, its open source approach gives it a lot of pricing flexibility plus leverage in building out its platform. These are real assets in an economic environment where a segment of content providers will no doubt be looking for viable, cost-effective alternatives.

What do you think? Post a comment now!