The fuse of the web explosion is burning
Internet advertisers in the U.S. have discovered a new star in the web world. Unlike YouTube, Brightcove.com uses professional tools.
Internet America's advertisers have discovered a new star in the web sky. Unlike YouTube, Brightcove.com works with professional tools. "This guy's company will one day be worth more than the 1.6 billion dollars that Google put down for YouTube," cheers the trade magazine Advertising Age. The person in question is Jeremy Allaire, founder of the internet content distribution platform Brightcove.com, which was launched at the end of October and on which hundreds of videos can be accessed free of charge.
Brightcove may look like YouTube.com at first glance, but unlike the anarchic file-sharing service, which has since been bought by Google, Brightcove was built on strategic business thinking from the outset. Allaire, who previously co-headed the Flash software company Macromedia, integrated an advertising network, a distribution deal with AOL and sophisticated search functions into the platform. "Brightcove is the fuse of the Internet video explosion," believes Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff.
In addition, Allaire made sure that all copyright issues were clarified from the outset, which brought him cooperation with media companies such as Sony, BMG, Warner Brothers, Discovery, Reuters, Dow Jones, the New York Times and Newsweek. But why do these companies get involved with Brightcove when they can simply distribute the content via their own websites? "Content companies want to work with us because this new platform requires a huge infrastructure," explains Jim Ericson, Head of Marketing at competitor Move Networks. "Brightcove offers its customers an all-round solution, has a very professional design and Jeremy Allaire is an experienced professional. Brightcove therefore has a good chance of success."
With the help of the implemented advertising network, every content provider who uploads their products to Brightcove.com has the opportunity to earn money from advertising revenue right from the start. Whether this actually happens is, of course, a question of the quality of the content. "The success of these channels largely depends on what the media companies want to put online," says Brad Adgate, Research Director at the agency Horizon Media. "What looks like garbage on TV doesn't look any better online." Nevertheless, the ability to use the internet to target individual consumers is an invaluable opportunity. "These broadband channels offer brand companies endless possibilities."
Competition in the starting blocksAllaire is already dreaming of presenting each individual Brightcove user with a range of videos tailored to their individual tastes based on their user data. Advertisers should also be able to place their own channels on Brightcove. "Become the content provider of your own broadband channel," he urged visitors to the Creativity Conference, which took place in New York in November. However, such a channel is not necessarily the same as "branded entertainment", "because with us, customers really interact with the brands".
Whether Brightcove alone can revolutionize the content distribution model on the Internet remains to be seen. Competitors such as Roo and Maven Networks are already waiting in the wings, targeting the same clientele. But perhaps they can also coexist. "Anyone who believes in an open distribution model will come to the realization that there will be massive fragmentation in the media landscape, where there will be hundreds of thousands of channels," predicts Allaire. "The biggest obstacle at the moment is that media professionals are not yet ready to accept this."
Gerti Schön
YouTube faces further competitionIn the USA, media groups are planning to
to launch its own online video service in order to secure advertising money. According to Spiegel online, media groups such as Fox, Viacom, CBS and NBC Universal are involved. The parties involved want to publish video films themselves on a joint website and thus generate advertising revenue directly.
Get to YouTube
In addition to privately produced films, fragments of television broadcasts are also frequently uploaded to the internet. The broadcasters were fiercely opposed because many of them had license agreements with YouTube. This was an important prerequisite for Google to buy the website for 1.65 billion dollars in shares. (rw)
"Overly heavy-handed advertising backfires" Greg Verdino
Vice President for New Media at the digital marketing company Digitas, tells Werbewoche what he thinks of Brightcove.
WW: What distinguishes Brightcove from YouTube? Greg Verdino: They are two completely different business models. YouTube is aimed at everyone and works a lot with user-generated content, while Brightcove works with niche publications and medium-sized content producers. It's not about the NBCs and Disneys, but about specialized providers, such as a sailboat channel. Whether marketing companies can succeed on this platform depends on how much they can adapt to the environment. Overly heavy-handed advertising on YouTube will only backfire, as users will protest. On Brightcove, advertising looks more professional because it is labeled as such.
Do you think marketers will actually create entire content channels on Brightcove? it's almost assumed today that marketers think like content providers, because consumers can avoid advertising at any time, so they turn to forms like branded entertainment. It's almost as if we're going back to the early days of television when Procter & Gamble produced soap operas. That's what it comes down to, except today's consumers demand interactive options and don't just want to sit on the couch with a beer. The challenge for Brightcove.com is that the visual presentation looks the same for every content provider out there, so they need to be more customer-centric.
Will Brightcove be able to assert itself? Brightcove can be commercially successful. That depends on how robust its platform can prove to be. The company is already working with a number of well-known companies, but more and, above all, more lucrative orders need to come in.
Interview: Gerti Schön
Brightcove may look like YouTube.com at first glance, but unlike the anarchic file-sharing service, which has since been bought by Google, Brightcove was built on strategic business thinking from the outset. Allaire, who previously co-headed the Flash software company Macromedia, integrated an advertising network, a distribution deal with AOL and sophisticated search functions into the platform. "Brightcove is the fuse of the Internet video explosion," believes Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff.
In addition, Allaire made sure that all copyright issues were clarified from the outset, which brought him cooperation with media companies such as Sony, BMG, Warner Brothers, Discovery, Reuters, Dow Jones, the New York Times and Newsweek. But why do these companies get involved with Brightcove when they can simply distribute the content via their own websites? "Content companies want to work with us because this new platform requires a huge infrastructure," explains Jim Ericson, Head of Marketing at competitor Move Networks. "Brightcove offers its customers an all-round solution, has a very professional design and Jeremy Allaire is an experienced professional. Brightcove therefore has a good chance of success."
With the help of the implemented advertising network, every content provider who uploads their products to Brightcove.com has the opportunity to earn money from advertising revenue right from the start. Whether this actually happens is, of course, a question of the quality of the content. "The success of these channels largely depends on what the media companies want to put online," says Brad Adgate, Research Director at the agency Horizon Media. "What looks like garbage on TV doesn't look any better online." Nevertheless, the ability to use the internet to target individual consumers is an invaluable opportunity. "These broadband channels offer brand companies endless possibilities."
Competition in the starting blocksAllaire is already dreaming of presenting each individual Brightcove user with a range of videos tailored to their individual tastes based on their user data. Advertisers should also be able to place their own channels on Brightcove. "Become the content provider of your own broadband channel," he urged visitors to the Creativity Conference, which took place in New York in November. However, such a channel is not necessarily the same as "branded entertainment", "because with us, customers really interact with the brands".
Whether Brightcove alone can revolutionize the content distribution model on the Internet remains to be seen. Competitors such as Roo and Maven Networks are already waiting in the wings, targeting the same clientele. But perhaps they can also coexist. "Anyone who believes in an open distribution model will come to the realization that there will be massive fragmentation in the media landscape, where there will be hundreds of thousands of channels," predicts Allaire. "The biggest obstacle at the moment is that media professionals are not yet ready to accept this."
Gerti Schön
YouTube faces further competitionIn the USA, media groups are planning to
to launch its own online video service in order to secure advertising money. According to Spiegel online, media groups such as Fox, Viacom, CBS and NBC Universal are involved. The parties involved want to publish video films themselves on a joint website and thus generate advertising revenue directly.
Get to YouTube
In addition to privately produced films, fragments of television broadcasts are also frequently uploaded to the internet. The broadcasters were fiercely opposed because many of them had license agreements with YouTube. This was an important prerequisite for Google to buy the website for 1.65 billion dollars in shares. (rw)
"Overly heavy-handed advertising backfires" Greg Verdino
Vice President for New Media at the digital marketing company Digitas, tells Werbewoche what he thinks of Brightcove.
WW: What distinguishes Brightcove from YouTube? Greg Verdino: They are two completely different business models. YouTube is aimed at everyone and works a lot with user-generated content, while Brightcove works with niche publications and medium-sized content producers. It's not about the NBCs and Disneys, but about specialized providers, such as a sailboat channel. Whether marketing companies can succeed on this platform depends on how much they can adapt to the environment. Overly heavy-handed advertising on YouTube will only backfire, as users will protest. On Brightcove, advertising looks more professional because it is labeled as such.
Do you think marketers will actually create entire content channels on Brightcove? it's almost assumed today that marketers think like content providers, because consumers can avoid advertising at any time, so they turn to forms like branded entertainment. It's almost as if we're going back to the early days of television when Procter & Gamble produced soap operas. That's what it comes down to, except today's consumers demand interactive options and don't just want to sit on the couch with a beer. The challenge for Brightcove.com is that the visual presentation looks the same for every content provider out there, so they need to be more customer-centric.
Will Brightcove be able to assert itself? Brightcove can be commercially successful. That depends on how robust its platform can prove to be. The company is already working with a number of well-known companies, but more and, above all, more lucrative orders need to come in.
Interview: Gerti Schön
