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Hulu Pulls IPO Due to Lack of Long-Term Content Rights
The WSJ is reporting that Hulu has pulled its widely-rumored plan for an initial public offering next year due to lack of long-term rights to distribute its three broadcast TV network owners' content. The WSJ says the company may
look at other options to raise capital. Hulu's exclusive short-term distribution deals with owners ABC, FOX and NBC are the company's primary asset, and no doubt banks and other would-be investors closely scrutinized whether the rights would be extended.
As I wrote last April, from a content rights perspective, Hulu is getting squeezed from all sides. Pay-TV providers are ramping up their TV Everywhere rollouts and are trying to lock down online distribution rights themselves, sometimes as part of retransmission consent deals. The NBC rights in particular are subject to extra uncertainty longer-term as Comcast takes over the network. As the biggest subscription TV provider, which is rolling out its own online capabilities, Comcast has little incentive to support an online competitor.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters, Deals & Financings
Topics: ABC, Comcast, FOX, Hulu, NBC, Netflix
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5 Items of Interest for the Week of Dec. 12th
Happy Friday. Once again I'm pleased to offer VideoNuze's end-of-week feature analyzing 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry news items from the week that we didn't have a chance to cover previously. This week I'm changing the format a little bit, creating an individual post for each item. I'm doing this in response to reader interest in being able to share individual items (not the whole group) more easily. Let me know what you think of the new format. Here they are:
1. Potential YouTube-Next New Networks deal is a bit of a head-scratcher
2. Here's a great example of why TV Everywhere matters so much to the pay-TV industry
3. Hulu's Kilar: "Hulu Plus now a material portion" of revenues
4. Google not ready to announce fiber winning communities
5. Tiffany shows online video works for luxury retailers
Read them now or check them out this weekend!Categories: Aggregators, Broadband ISPs, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Commerce, Deals & Financings, Indie Video, Satellite, Telcos
Topics: Google, Hulu Plus, Netflix, Next New Networks, Tiffany, YouTube
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Potential YouTube-Next New Networks Deal is a Bit of a Head-Scratcher
I'm still scratching my head a little over this week's report that YouTube may be looking to acquire independent video network/developer Next New Networks. An acquisition of Next New Networks would mean that YouTube would no longer be solely a platform for indie video, but a producer as well. So the first question is why, after so many assertions by Google executives that it is "not a media company" has it decided that in fact it now wants to be a media company? Does Google feel that indie content is underfunded and developing too slowly, hence the need to bring its massive resources to bear? Maybe so.
But data just this week from the company, disclosing its 2010 top videos viewed seems to suggest that indie creativity is bubbling along just fine. The top two videos were actually Next New productions, and the company blogged a must-read post about how it achieved this success. Maybe YouTube feels it can turbo-charge indie content, and this is strategic to help support its Google TV efforts since it's getting stiff-armed by major broadcasters. If the deal is done (and doesn't end up as another Groupon non-deal) it will be interesting to learn how Google/YouTube explains it.Categories: Aggregators, Deals & Financings, Indie Video
Topics: Google, Next New Networks, YouTube
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Online Video Ad Network SpotXchange Raises $12 Million
Online video ad network SpotXchange is announcing this morning that it has raised $12 million from H.I.G Growth Partners, in its first round of institutional capital. Proceeds will be used to further build-out its video ad solution and
also to expand internationally. SpotXchange is ranked as one of the top 5 video ad networks by comScore and recently launched SpotMarket RTB, a real-time auction-based market where buyers can bid on an impression-by-impression basis.
The SpotXchange news further underscores a sizzling year of financings and M&A for video ad networks. This space is attracting strong investor attention because of the growing recognition that huge online video audiences and ever-improving content is inevitably going to draw more ad dollars to the medium. In addition, online video advertising offers clear benefits over traditional TV advertising such as better targeting and interactivity. Just last week eMarketer forecast 30+%/year annual growth in online video ad spending, driving the category up to $6 billion by 2014. Throughout the year I've noted various innovations in online video ad units and I expect this will continue alongside the online video industry's rapid growth next year.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Note: SpotXchange is a VideoNuze sponsor.Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings
Topics: SpotXchange
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Will China's Successful Youku IPO Spark US Online Video Offerings in '11?
Yesterday, China's Youku, which started as a YouTube-style user-uploaded video site, but has evolved to a Hulu-style distributor of professional video, went public on the New York Stock Exchange. It offered 15.85 million American Depositary Receipts, or "ADRs," which represent ownership shares
in non-U.S. companies, at $12.80 apiece, raising over $200 million. When the market closed, the ADRs stood at $33.44, up 161%, the best one-day performance for a U.S. IPO in the last 5 years (they're up another $5 today as well). Youku, which recorded $35 million in revenue for the first nine months of this year (and a $25 million loss), had an end of day valuation of $3 billion+.
Yes, I know what you're thinking - this is crazy, the bubble days have returned and there's a huge "China factor" multiplier at work for Youku. All of that is no doubt true. But here's something else that's true - while the global economy and stock markets have undergone wrenching change and volatility over the last 2+ years, the online video market has boomed. For certain kinds of investors (both professional and non-professional) who value growth over everything else, there are few sectors which have more appealing characteristics. As tens of millions of people have adopted online and mobile video, devices for viewing online video on TVs have proliferated, premium content has become available and business models have firmed, investors have taken notice.
Categories: Aggregators, Deals & Financings, International
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With Widevine Acquisition, Google is Poised to Go Hollywood
Just as the week is wrapping up, Google has announced its acquisition of Widevine, a provider of digital content protection and video optimization technologies. Widevine was a private company that had raised over $50 million to date. The acquisition is very noteworthy as Google will now own a
60+ patent portfolio in the critical area of securing digital video delivery to every conceivable type of viewing device. As such, Google has a critical building block in its ability to deliver premium content to devices using its Android, Google TV and Chrome technologies.
In addition to the technology, Google is also inheriting Widevine's customer relationships with many leading consumer electronics, content and distribution companies. Among Widevine's long list of customers are Panasonic, LG, Best Buy, boxee, Sonic Solutions, LOVEFiLM, Samsung, DISH Network, Netflix, Blockbuster and others. All of these relationships give Google further opportunities to drive Google TV adoption and further immerse itself in the video ecosystem.
Categories: Deals & Financings, DRM, Technology
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British OVP vzaar Gets Investment From Oliver Stone
vzaar, an online video platform company based in England has announced the director Oliver Stone has invested an undisclosed sum as part of its most recent financing round. Stone was so enthusiastic about the company that he recorded a short commercial for no fee (see below) in which he says that "vzaar is one of those lightning bolts that hit me right between the eyes" in a serious yet somewhat menacing tone.
vzaar's CEO Stephen McCluskey told me that Stone got involved via one of vzaar's key investors John Moreton. Stephen himself joined the company in March of this year and turned its focus onto profession and mid-sized users in vertical markets including fashion, media, corporate communications, sports and government, as well as for direct marketing applications. The company recently raised its entry tier from $15/mo to $49/mo and 60% of its customers are in the U.S. Stephen said that monthly revenue is growing by 20-30% and is already more than the whole of last year.
Categories: Deals & Financings, International, Technology
Topics: Oliver Stone, vzaar
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Digitalsmiths Acquires Gotuit in Bid to Become Video Metadata Powerhouse
Video metadata solution provider Digitalsmiths has acquired Gotuit Media, another player in the video metadata space. Digitalsmiths' CEO Ben Weinberger explained to me over the weekend that the combined company will have the most comprehensive solution for video indexing and metadata management/monetization for multi-platform distribution of various content types. To date Digitalsmiths has been mainly focused on library TV and movie content while Gotuit has concentrated on live sports and news.
Metadata is crucial to online and mobile video because it's what enables search, recommendations and higher-value monetization. It's especially important given the proliferation of short-form clips created out of longer-form content which need to be indexed and easily searchable. Accurate metadata is hard to produce and Digitalsmiths and Gotuit have used different approaches that will be complimentary as part of the new solution. Ben said that the goal is to introduce the comprehensive solution to each customer set to deepen existing relationships, while developing new opportunities based on the comprehensive approach.
Categories: Deals & Financings, Technology
Topics: Digitalsmiths, Gotuit Media
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5 Items of Interest for the Week of Nov. 15th
After a short break, VideoNuze's Friday feature of curating 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry news items that we weren't able to cover this week, returns today. Read them now or take them with you this weekend!
Time Warner Cable Experiments With Lower Tier Video Package
It's a rare day when a cable operator announces a lower-priced offering, but that's what Time Warner Cable did yesterday, unveiling a test of what it's calling "TV Essentials." The new tier, priced between $30-$40, will most notably exclude ESPN, the most expensive channel in the cable universe, meaning right away TV Essentials isn't targeted to sports fans. I've argued for a while now that pay-TV operators have ceded the low-priced/value-oriented end of the video market to Netflix (and others), which given the ongoing recession is a mistake. It will be interesting to see how the new bargain service fares; 2 things that will limit its appeal though are that no channels will be offered in HD, and that it appears those with broadband Internet and telephone services won't benefit from typical package discounts.
Nielsen study: We're still a nation of couch pumpkins
More evidence this week that despite all the deserved enthusiasm over online and mobile delivery, good old-fashioned TV viewing still rules in terms of hours of consumption. Nielsen said that the average person watched 143 hours of TV per month in Q2, essentially flat vs. a year ago. For homes with DVRs, hours of time watched on them nudged up a bit to about 24 1/2 hours. On a related note, this week comScore released its online video viewing data for October, which showed average viewing of 15.1 hours per person. While online video has made huge progress in the last few years, it still has a ton of room to grow to catch up with TV.
More Videos Ads, More User Acceptance
Speaking of the comparison between online video and TV, this week brought some interesting new data on monetization patterns for premium online video. Online video ad manager FreeWheel released data that showed mid-roll ads are the fastest-growing category of ads (up 693% since Q1), and now represent 8% of its ad volume. Completion rates have increased for pre, mid and post-roll ads this year, but notably mid-rolls have the highest completion rate, at 90%. FreeWheel's conclusion is that monetization of premium online video is starting to look a lot like TV, with ad pods inserted throughout. Going a step further, if viewer acceptance of mid-rolls stays high, then this represents a valuable opportunity for TV networks in particular to combat DVR-based ad-skipping.
Startup Claims To Have Set-Top Hulu Can't Block
It was inevitable that Hulu's decision to block access to its programs would set off a game of whack-a-mole, with various devices springing up to do end-arounds. Sure enough, the $99 Orb TV debuted this week, prominently positioning itself as the device that can bring Hulu (among other content) to your TV. One catch is that Orb streams video from your computer and only does so in standard definition. It addresses the "keyboard in the living room" challenge by also including a smartphone app to control the device. It's not a perfect solution, but it does provide a glimpse into the PR-unfriendly dynamic that Hulu, and the broadcast networks, have created for themselves by blocking access to their content by Google TV and others. No doubt there will be plenty more Orb-like devices to come to market in the months ahead, all positioning themselves as solving the blocking problem.
Comcast's Top Digital Exec Amy Banse to Open New Silicon Valley Equity Fund for Cable Giant and NBC
As Comcast enters the final stages of approval for its NBCU deal, the company this week announced a new NBCU management structure. One item that wasn't formally announced yet, but was reported by AllThingsD earlier this week was that Amy Banse, formerly head of Comcast Interactive Media (now headed by Matt Strauss), will be heading to Silicon Valley to run the combined operations of Comcast's current Comcast Interactive Capital venture arm, and NBCU's current Peacock Equity (a JV with GE). With all the distribution, technology and content assets that will be under the Comcast roof, the fund will be at the top of any online/mobile video startup's list of strategic investors. I've known Amy for a while and have enjoyed having her on industry panels; she'll be a huge asset to Comcast in the Valley venture world.Categories: Advertising, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Deals & Financings, Devices
Topics: Comcast, comScore, ESPN, FreeWheel, Hulu, NBCU, Nielsen, Orb, Time Warner Cable
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TokBox Raises $12 Million for In-Browser Video Conferencing
TokBox, a streaming video communications provider, has raised a $12 million Series C round, led by DAG Ventures, to support the rollout of OpenTok, which allows in-browser video conferencing. With the new funding the company has raised $26.4 million to date. I got a demo of OpenTok last week and spoke to company CEO Ian Small and VP of Marketing Micky O'Brien.
What makes OpenTok interesting is that developers can use its JavaScript APIs to build video conferencing right into their web pages. That means that instead of opening separate video chat windows in Skype or other apps,
participants appear within the web page itself. With OpenTok's APIs enabled, the web page "listens" and detects video streams from participants' web cameras. Video is controlled in the cloud by media servers which decide how to route the call to appropriate web pages, via Flash. A set of master controls lets the site owner manipulate the prominence of individual participants. Importantly, no plug-in is required by users. They simply click "Join call" or whatever prompt the web site owner implements to invite participants.
Categories: Deals & Financings, Live Streaming, Technology
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Clearleap Raises Another $4.5 Million To Accelerate Delivery To Connected Devices
Clearleap, a web-based technology platform, has raised a new $4.5 million round from current investors, bringing total capital raised to $16.8 million. It is also announcing a new "Stream On Demand" solution which is targeted to pay-TV operators who want to deliver authenticated video streams to connected IP devices. Clearleap introduced this concept over the summer by partnering with Roku to allow pay-TV operators deliver video to its devices.
At the time I wrote that the partnership blurred the boundaries between traditional video and broadband-centric or "over-the-top" video distribution. As Clearleap's CEO Braxton Jarratt explained to me the other day, those boundaries will become even more blurry as customers adopt Stream On Demand. With the new solution, pay-TV operators can authenticate, manage quality of service (QOS) and bill for video delivered to connected devices that are either owned by the consumer or by the operator itself. Braxton said that Stream On Demand's first customers will be announced later this year or early next. Clearleap's focus to date has been on incorporating online video into legacy linear and VOD systems.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Deals & Financings, Devices, Technology
Topics: Clearleap
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Movieclips.com Raises $3 Million Series A Round
Movieclips.com, which offers access to over 14,000 licensed movie clips, is announcing its Series A round of $3 million from Shasta Ventures, First Round
Capital and angel investors. In addition, the company is releasing new curated top 10 lists across categories as well as mashups.
I last wrote about Movieclips.com in March when it opened up for general use and began making available its APIs. One of the reasons I was a fan was that the site showed how new value can be mined from archived long-form content, especially when repackaged in web and social media-friendly short-form bites.
Categories: Deals & Financings
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Tremor Media Acquires ScanScout, Creating Video Ad Network Giant
More consolidation among video ad networks, as market leader Tremor Media has acquired ScanScout, creating a new dominant player. comScore reported in its Sept. 2010 online video rankings that Tremor on its own was the #2 video ad network with over 525 million video ads served and reach to over 26% of the U.S. population. For its part ScanScout says it reaches 140 million unique viewers per month. Tremor most recently raised a $40 million round in April, bringing its total funding to $82 million, while ScanScout last raised another $8.5 million Oct. '09.
Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings
Topics: ScanScout, Tremor Media
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Undertone Acquires Video Syndicator Jambo Media
Undertone, a large display ad network has acquired video syndication and technology provider Jambo Media. Both companies are private and terms were not disclosed. The deal comes on the heels of ad network Specific Media acquiring video manager/network BBE, and AOL acquiring video syndicator 5Min. All three deals - and no doubt others to follow - illustrate the consolidation underway between video advertising and other forms of online advertising plus the interplay between video syndication, branded content and advertising.
Undertone's CEO Mike Cassidy told me that Undertone has been fielding more calls from the agencies and Fortune 500 brands it serves who are interested in online video advertising as well. Mike believes that offering them an integrated approach between display and video so that they can buy, manage and measure their returns across formats will only become more important over time. So a key goal of the acquisition is to meld their publisher networks and and offer high quality reach for both display and video. Since display is more mature than video advertising, Mike also sees opportunities to leverage its underlying technology in areas like targeting.
Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings
Topics: Jambo Media, Undertone
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Interview With BBE's Matt Wasserlauf On Its Acquisition By Specific Media
Yesterday, BBE, one of the earliest online video ad networks, announced it has been acquired by Specific Media, a large display ad network. I caught up
with BBE's CEO and founder Matt Wasserlauf to learn more about the deal. An edited transcript follows.
VideoNuze: Why did you decide to be acquired now?
Matt Wasserlauf: The market needs some consolidation, there are a lot of companies trying to do similar things and most important customers need a one-stop solution. They need to be able to buy reach against all display - banners, rich media and video.
VideoNuze: Why Specific Media?
MW: They're the leader in targeting and that's where video is going next. We've done a great job delivering reach and brand metrics, but many of our customers are getting savvier about video and are looking to reach specific audiences. The targeting that Specific Media brings to BBE is going to create the leader in video targeting.
Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings
Topics: BBE, Specific Media
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Sharethrough Raises $5 Million For Branded Content To Go Social
Sharethrough, a social video advertising network, is announcing this morning that it has raised a $5 million Series A round led by North Bridge Venture Partners and Floodgate. Co-founder and CEO Dan Greenberg brought me up to speed last week on the company's strategy.
Sharethrough is focused on providing distribution in social networks for branded content. This has become an increasingly popular format for brands that want to go beyond traditional 15 and 30-second TV advertising to use
online video to create more engaging messages. Dan points out that the really hard part for these brands is actually creating an audience for their branded content. Unlike traditional TV where a certain number of TV spots or impressions are simply purchased, Dan's view is that branded content, when placed in suitable social media contexts, can generate high sharing rates and viewership.
Categories: Advertising, Branded Entertainment, Deals & Financings, Social Media, Video Sharing
Topics: Sharethrough
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BNI Video Raises $16 Million To Improve Cable Operators' Competitiveness
BNI Video is announcing this morning that it has raised $16 million from the venture arms of the two largest U.S. cable operators, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, along with Boston-area VC firms Charles River Ventures and
Castile Ventures. It is also introducing its software platform, meant to help cable operators better compete with online video alternatives. I recently caught up with Conrad Clemson, BNI's CEO and co-founder, to learn more about the company's approach.
BNI is aiming to solve a key problem that cable operators have today: their inability to quickly roll out web-based services (both video and non-video) that offer the same quality, flexibility and appeal that budding alternatives like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and others are currently delivering. The inability to quickly deliver their subscribers the content they want anytime, anywhere and on any device is putting cable operators at a growing disadvantage relative to the newcomers. Examples of deficiencies include operators' archaic electronic program guides, slow rollout of TV Everywhere services, inflexible VOD ordering systems and so on.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Deals & Financings, Technology
Topics: BNI Video, Comcast, Time Warner Cable
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Another $150M Raised by Video Companies in Q3 '10, Plus Lots of Deals
Q3 '10 saw strong continued investment interest in the online video industry, with at least 14 private companies raising at least $149.4 million, according to sources I track. The largest amount however, $50 million, went to Chinese video portal Tudou. If that amount were backed out, then the approximately $100 million remaining would actually be the lowest quarterly total since Q2 '09. Total financings over the last 4 quarters are approximately $756.1 million.
The big news of the quarter though, was in industry deals. At least 11 acquisitions were announced or completed in Q3, which are listed after the investments below. In other industry news, Blockbuster declared bankruptcy, capping its long demise, and rumors of Hulu's plans to go public surfaced.
Following are the financings and acquisitions that I tracked during the quarter, the date disclosed and new investors identified if applicable. Links are provided to the companies' press releases, or to relevant media coverage if none could be found (note that I haven't verified media coverage with companies themselves). If I've missed anything or you find an inaccuracy, please post a comment.
Categories: Deals & Financings
Topics: Deals
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5Min Acquired By AOL, Why Exit So Early?
This morning AOL announced that it has acquired 5Min with the rumor mill suggesting the price is $65 million. For AOL, the deal makes a lot of sense and is yet another building block in its video and niche content strategy. 5Min is especially relevant to AOL since it acquired Studio Now earlier this year. 5Min gives AOL significant distribution reach both for video that Studio Now creates and for other content AOL develops. 5Min has masterfully executed the video syndication opportunity that I've been bullish about for some time and I've been a big 5Min fan for a while.
The bigger question for me, which I've emailed to Ran Harnevo, 5Min's CEO and Co-Founder, is why sell now? While $65 million is certainly nothing to sneeze at, given $13 million was invested in the company the returns for investors are likely in the 2-4x range, again not shabby, but not a grand slam.
Categories: Deals & Financings, Portals, Syndicated Video Economy
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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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