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Jinni Raises $5 Million Series B For Video Discovery
Jinni, whose video discovery engine is based on "taste and mood," is
announcing that it has raised a $5 million Series B round led by Belgacom (Belgium's leading telecom) and an undisclosed tier 1 consumer electronics company. The company had previously raised $1.6 million in December, 2009.
Categories: Deals & Financings, Video Search
Topics: Jinni
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Comcast To Offer Live, VOD Access on Tablets
Comcast is announcing this morning that it will allow subscribers to stream live programs to their iPads or Android tablets later this year (no definite time disclosed). While the caveat is that only in-home usage will only be permitted, the benefits are still meaningful. For instance, subscribers who were paying for (or considering paying for) additional outlets in 2nd and 3rd rooms, which are only casually used, could now save money by not taking service in those rooms and using their iPads instead.
Further, subscribers can now watch in rooms that possibly didn't even have a TV. I'm familiar with this example, as I've used my iPad to watch Netflix content in various areas of my house that don't have TVs or cable service. Presumably the roadmap calls for out-of-home viewing as well, giving it full Sling-like benefits (at no additional cost). That would provide even more value to tablet owners.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Devices, Mobile Video, Video On Demand
Topics: Android, Comcast, iPad, Xfinity
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Roku Hits 1 Billion Streams; Viewing Time Is 31% As Much As Traditional TV
Connected device maker Roku has announced that it has delivered a cumulative 1 billion video streams to its installed base of media players. Even more interesting though is that the company disclosed that in December
2010, its players were used for an average of 11+ hours of play time per week. Since Nielsen reported that in Q2 '10 that the average American watched about 143.5 hours per month, this would mean that Roku owners on average are watching 31% (i.e. 45/143.5) as much through these devices as they do traditional TV.
Categories: Devices
Topics: comScore, Nielsen, Roku
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With New Netflix Button, Mutual Love Affair With CE Industry Continues
The mutual love affair between the consumer electronics industry and Netflix continues on, with today's announcement that 11 different CE companies will create a dedicated Netflix button on their remote controls for certain
connected TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. The unusual move is the latest sign of how interdependent the success of CE companies' connected devices and Netflix's burgeoning popularity have become.
The love affair was born out of CE companies' recognition of the old adage that compelling content and applications are critical to inducing consumers to buy the next snazzy gadget. Case in point: Blu-ray disc player sales were stagnating until connectivity was added, enabling access to Netflix and other streaming content. As a result, in the first 9 months of 2010, around 2.4 million players were sold in the U.S., up 96% from the prior year's period, according to NPD Group.
Categories: Aggregators, Devices
Topics: and Toshiba. Sharp, Dynex, Haier, Memorex, Netflix, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Sony, Toshiba
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Warning: Not All Cord-Cutting Research is Created Equal
When it comes to understanding cord-cutting trends, not all consumer market research is created equal. In my view there are two basic types. The first is speculative research that focuses on "potential" cord-cutters. The second is research that focuses on actual cord-cutters. For industry participants trying to get an accurate handle on this complicated topic, the second type is much more valuable.
The big problem with speculative research is that there's a massive difference between what people say they're considering doing (or even say they're planning to do) vs. what they will actually end up doing. In fact, it's a cliche this time of year to resolve to do certain things, though in reality we never will. How many of us said we'll get more exercise in 2011? Lose weight? Stop smoking? Save more money? And how many of us actually will? You get the idea.
Categories:
Topics: J.P. Morgan, Leichtman Research
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Another $180 Million Raised by Video Companies in Q4 '10, Capping a Banner Year
Private video-related companies raised at least $179.8 million in Q4 '10, bringing their total raised in 2010 to just over $750 million, according to public sources I track. Among the 22 companies raising funds the largest reported were by 3-screen video processor RGB Networks ($20M), which also acquired RipCode, a mobile video solutions provider in June 2010; Internet TV platform Verismo ($17M); and service provider software company BNI Video ($16M). Once again, the most popular categories for financings were software, content delivery and advertising-related; aside from $1M debt that Next New Networks raised, no new original video content companies were funded.
As the chart below shows, the Q4 total is a solid bounce-back from Q3's $100M (after excluding the $50M raised by Chinese video site Tudou). It further demonstrates the enthusiasm investors have for the online and mobile video sectors, which was driven throughout the year by positive news/research underscoring strong consumer adoption.
Categories: Deals & Financings
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Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011
With the holidays upon us, it's time to say goodbye to 2010 and to think about the year ahead.
As I described in my "Online/Mobile Video's Top 10 of 2010" post yesterday, it was a whirlwind year for the industry, with exciting progress on all fronts. 2011 is shaping up to be equally exciting as players in the ecosystem innovate and jockey for position.
In 2010 I wrote almost 500 original analyses of industry events, and aggregated over 2,000 news items from third-party sources on VideoNuze. In 2011 VideoNuze will continue to provide analytical, even-handed coverage of the rapidly evolving online and mobile video industries, and those industries that are impacted by the rise of viewing on these new platforms. Readers continue to tell me that VideoNuze is one of the few media outlets that delivers consistently thoughtful industry analysis, resisting the hype and piling-on that is all too common today. I know VideoNuze readers are busy and have lots of choices for what to read, so thank you for making VideoNuze a part of your day.
As the year winds down, I also want to say a big thank you to VideoNuze's sponsors and to the sponsors of the 3 VideoSchmooze events this year. Without them VideoNuze wouldn't be possible and so I'm very grateful for their support. As always, if you're interested in learning more about sponsoring either VideoNuze or VideoSchmooze events, please contact me.
VideoNuze will be on break until Monday, January 3rd, unless something big happens during the holiday week. I'll continue to post news and do some tweeting, but for the most part I'll be relaxing and re-charging my batteries. I hope you'll be doing the same.
Happy Holidays to all of you, see you in 2011!
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Topics: VideoNuze
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Online/Mobile Video's Top 10 of 2010
2010 was another spectacular year of growth and innovation in online and mobile video, so it's no easy feat to choose the 10 most significant things that happened during the year. However, I've taken my best shot below, and offered explanations. No doubt I've forgotten a few things, but I think it's a pretty solid list. As much as happened in 2010 though, I expect even more next year, with plenty of surprises.
My top 10 are as follows:
Categories: Advertising, Aggregators, Broadband ISPs, Broadcasters, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Deals & Financings, Devices, Mobile Video, Regulation, Satellite, Technology, Telcos
Topics: 4G, Android, Apple, Google TV, iPad, Net Neutrality, Netflix, YouTube
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