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Conviva Raises $15 Million for Global Expansion and R&D
Conviva, whose software monitors and helps improve the quality of streaming video, has raised a $15 million Series C round intended for global expansion
and R&D. The round was led by GGV Capital with participation from existing investors Foundation Capital, New Enterprise Associates and Pelion Venture Partners. Conviva has raised $44 million to date.
As I described last February, Conviva's software runs alongside the content provider's video player, sending "heartbeat" reports every 10 seconds about each user's video stream. This data is mashed up in real-time, so that if a problem exists, its exact nature is understood quickly and reliably. When a video isn't playing correctly, the issues can range from buffering to CDN congestion to local broadband ISP failures to other problems. Conviva says it has found that at least 25% of all streams have some issue which disrupts the user experience.
Categories: Deals & Financings, Technology
Topics: Conviva, GGV Capital
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YouTube Gets Center Stage in Google's New "Watch This Space" Ad Campaign
Last Thursday Google announced a new ad campaign promoting its display advertising opportunities called "Watch This Space." Having seen it in action for the first time, on the AllThingsD.com web site the last 2 days, it is clear that Google is giving YouTube center stage in this campaign. It's the first time I'm aware of that ad opportunities on YouTube have been so heavily promoted and I believe signals the growing importance of YouTube in Google's overall ad business.
The 300x600 Google ad unit (see below) expands to show 3 clickable tabs:
Categories: Advertising, Aggregators
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PlayOn Upgrades to Allow Streaming to iPad
PlayOn has upgraded its software to allow its Premium users to stream video from their PC to their iPad using either 3G or WiFi networks. The upgrade adds to PlayOn's HTML5 solution for streaming to the iPhone and iPod Touch announced in August. As a result PlayOn users can now access their own
media files plus lots of premium streaming content when out-of-home. This is akin to what Sling enables except with PlayOn there's no hardware purchase or rental required. Jeff Lawrence, CEO of MediaMall Technologies, the company behind PlayOn, gave me a quick update recently.
The PlayOn software runs on the PC and streams to DLNA-compliant supported devices such as the major gaming consoles and digital set-tops like Moxi, Netgear's EVA2000 and others. After a 14-day trial, pricing is either one-time $80 or annual ($30 for first year and $20/year thereafter). Jeff wouldn't share the exact number of paying subscribers, but did say PlayOn is getting 1,000-3,000 downloads per day and is converting approximately 30%, so it sounds like it might be gaining 300-1,000 paid users per day (I'm guessing it's probably at the low end, and I don't know the churn rate).
Categories: Devices
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Auditude Scores in Asia with MLB International Ad Insertion Deal
Video ad manager Auditude is announcing this morning that it has scored its first Asian deal, with Allied Pacific Sports Network, which in turn has exclusive rights to distribute certain Major League Baseball content in China and other
Asian countries. Under the deal, APSN will use Auditude to dynamically insert video ads into live MLB games. Mike Gaffney, Auditude's Chief Revenue Officer explained to me yesterday that the deal mirrors one which the company has with Yahoo, in which the latter sells and places adds in live domestic MLB video streams.
For Auditude, the APSN deal is its first foray into Asia. The move appears to be opportunistic as the company has been mainly focused on building up its European business through an office in London. Mike said that Dailymotion, the large aggregator site in France is a key reason for its European push. The APSN deal came about due to MLB's recommendation.
Auditude is differentiating itself based on its ability to serve ads in live streams where there's more uncertainty around the length of each stream and the time allocated to ads, making pre-determined ad insertion harder to execute than in on-demand viewing. Live sports are a perfect example of this. Live streaming is expanding dramatically as comScore noted recently, and with YouTube now testing its technology to enable its partners to live stream more growth is surely ahead. As more video providers jump into live and require ad serving, Auditude is positioned to benefit.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Advertising, International, Live Streaming, Sports
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YouTube Live Streaming Expansion is Exciting Though Today's Quality Was Spotty
YouTube's newly announced live streaming platform offers video providers an exciting new opportunity to try new programming, connect to their audiences and leverage YouTube's massive reach. YouTube has made it very easy to broadcast live from within a partner channel, and has also adopted a "walk before you run" approach by testing today and tomorrow with 4 partners before expanding any further. That's a good idea, because based on my experience today, streaming quality was still pretty spotty.
For example, I tuned into Howcast's "Magic Secrets Unlocked!" today with celebrity magician Matt Wayne. It was a very cool show where Wayne took questions from a Howcast host and also did some neat tricks with a handful of participants. From a programming standpoint, I think live shows are a winning proposition for Howcast (and the others in the test, Next New Networks, Young Hollywood and Rocketboom), helping expand beyond on-demand programming. In the Howcast show, audience questions were taken and Wayne was interactive and engaging - and he even showed a few secrets to his craft.
Categories: Live Streaming
Topics: HowCast, Next New Networks, Rocketboom, Young Hollywood, YouTube
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Report: Newspapers Lead in Off-Site Viewership Rate
When it comes to videos being viewed off of their own web sites through embedding, it turns out that newspapers lead all other verticals, according to a new Q2 '10 online video usage report from Brightcove and TubeMogul. For newspapers, 13.6% of their videos are consumed off-site, whereas for broadcasters, which had the lowest percentage of off-site viewership, it was 1.9%.
For minutes watched per view on-site vs. off-site, newspapers decline a little, from 1:25 minutes on-site to 1:10 off site, far better than broadcasters which dropped from 3:00 minutes to 1:59 minutes. Only one vertical, online media, actually increased its off-site viewership time, to 1:45 minutes from 1:32 on-site. Whether through proactive syndication or making video embeddable on other sites so that users can virally distribute video, off-site viewership is important because it helps bring content to where users already are, rather than forcing them to come to a destination site. Of course, more views equals higher monetization. With their primarily short-form video, newspapers are well-suited to off-site consumption, and from the data it looks like they understand this and are taking advantage.
Categories:
Topics: Brightcove, TubeMogul
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5 Items of Interest for the Week of Sept. 6th
Though it was a short week due to the Labor Day holiday, there was no shortage of online video industry happenings this week. As I've been doing each of the last few Fridays, following are 5-6 noteworthy industry stories for your weekend reading pleasure.
Ooyala Raises $22 Million to Accelerate Global Expansion
Online video platform Ooyala's new $22 million round is a bright spot in what's been a pretty slow quarter for online video industry private financings. Ooyala's new funds will help the company grow in the Asia-Pacific region. Ooyala said it is serving 550 customers, double the level of a year ago.
Google TV to Roll Out World-Wide Next Year
Even though the first Google TV-enabled devices have yet to be deployed, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said this week that he envisions a global rollout next year. The connected device landscape is becoming more competitive for Google TV given the growing number of inexpensive connected device options.
Business Groups Question Net Neutrality Rules
Three pro-business trade groups urged the FCC to drop its net neutrality initiative, citing the "flourishing" broadband market and concerns that regulations will curtail new investments and hurt the economy. It seems like everyone has a different opinion about net neutrality, so the consensus needed to move regulation forward is still down the road.
ESPN, YouTube Link Up for Promo Campaign
This week ESPN and YouTube kicked off their "Your Highlight" campaign, enticing ESPN viewers to upload their own sports clips, with the best ones to be shown on SportsCenter. Then the best of the best will win a trip to ESPN's studios to watch a SportsCenter taping. It's a great promotional concept, using online video to further invest ESPN viewers in the brand. Whoever thought it up deserves a shout-out.
Life Without a TV Set? Not impossible
Another interesting data point to tuck into your back pocket: according to a 2010 Pew study, just 42% of Americans feel a TV set is a "necessity," down from 64% in 2006. Pew interprets this as a loss of status for the TV, as other devices like computers and phones have become video capable. The perception of convergence is taking root.
Categories: Broadband ISPs, Cable Networks, Deals & Financings, Devices, Regulation, UGC
Topics: ESPN, FCC, Google TV, Net Neutrality, Ooyala, Pew, YouTube
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Vidyo Introduces VidyoCast for Broadcast Production in the Cloud
Vidyo, which has focused on high-quality videoconferencing over IP networks, is now turning its sights to the broadcast market, introducing "VidyoCast" today, which can move the entire broadcast production process into the cloud, powered by broadband delivery. Jim O'Brien, a broadcast veteran who recently joined as GM of VidyoCast, walked me through the solution earlier this week.
The primary benefits of the cloud-based approach are cost-savings and more operational flexibility, without sacrificing quality. Vidyo believes that by using IP networks instead of typical satellite transmission, broadcasters can save up to 90% of their typical costs. VidyoCast is also being positioned as a backup solution, particularly in situations where typical broadcast backup isn't feasible or is cost prohibitive. VidyoCast is meant to easily integrate into incumbent broadcast infrastructure.
Categories: Broadcasters
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