Cable – Who Needs It?

The cable companies really aren’t keen on the Internet or online video. It’s a sector they don’t control, and currently don’t even have a foothold in.

But the Web is providing a viable alternative to expensive cable subscriptions for many people. Who needs to see a huge fee leave their bank account every month when the likes of Hulu provide content for free (at least for now). Especially with more TVs and devices being Internet-enabled, meaning Web video is moving from computers to the living room.

TV Everywhere

After spending some time fighting the lurch to the Web, the cable companies are now fighting back. Last year saw Comcast and Time Warner announce ‘TV Everywhere’, an initiative which will see some content be available to watch on the Web as well as on TV.

The catch is, of course, that it’ll only be available to current cable subscribers. This is designed to give viewers more options while still enabling the cable companies to retain the control they have enjoyed for many years.

‘TV Everywhere’ is currently being trialled. However, the cable companies currently envision ‘TV Everywhere’ as something strictly under their control, with existing subscribers given access to a Web video portal.

Brightcove Enters The Fray

Brightcove has other ideas, setting out its stall to act as go-between. Using its video platform and a new authentication process, Brightcove could enable a multitude of different programmers to place their content online; not just on a central portal, but on their own Web sites as well.

The tricky thing about ‘TV Everywhere’ is making sure only existing cable subscribers are getting access to the content being placed on the Web. Brightcove believes it has all the tools necessary to make this a reality.

Conclusions

There’s no guarantee the cable companies ill go for this, but if they had any sense then they would do. ‘TV Everywhere’ is a good first step to embracing the Web, but Brighcove’s product would make it a much more attractive proposition both for cable subscribers and content creators.

It is now in the process of changing its service from the ground up, with Brightcove 3, a completely rebuilt service now going in to private beta before a full release in the autumn.

Major Improvements

According to TechCrunch, the three main areas seeing improvements are “a new publishing model, support for long-form video and, last but not least, an improved user interface.”

The new publishing model includes a new API allowing publishers integrate detailed meta data in to their videos, optimize SEO and synchronise advertisements to ensure the most effective forms are being displayed.

Making Life Easier For Video Producers

The delivery of long-form videos is put at a higher priority as Brightcove tries to become the platform of choice for long and short-form publishers. Longer video will now be delivered in different levels of quality “based on bandwidth and computational power.”

Finally the user interface has taken a battering to make it more iTunes in style, and consequently user-friendly and more Web 2.0. This should all aid video producers to have an easier time adding and editing videos.

As of December 17, 2007, users of the video service and community will no longer be able to upload videos, as the website will be refocused to provide a central destination for the professional distribution and promotion of the company’s network of media partners.

Brightcove has always seemed more focused on developing methods of distributing and monetizing videos, providing a platform for several high-profile clients, so what exactly took this team so long to realize that running a YouTube competitor was not the way to go?

Pro Vs UGC

With the interactivity of the internet, two types of web video have emerged, professional video (similar to television content, though often more brief) and user-generated video (created by amateurs).

It has been clear that the king of user-generated video platforms is YouTube ever since their purchase by Google for more than $1 billion, but there has been no clear top-notch platform for the professional side.

It should have been a clear indication to Brightcove early on that their focus should be on the market that they still have a shot at capturing.

This seemed to be the case when the user-generated service was relocated from the Brightcove.com domain to Brightcove.TV, but still the company struggled to provide for both sectors.

Dear Brightcove.tv Member

The following message was sent by Brightcove today to all users of its service:

Dear Brightcove.TV member,

Beginning December 18, 2007, we plan to end support of direct consumer uploads to Brightcove.TV. As a result, you will not be able to upload new videos to Brightcove.TV after December 17, 2007. 

But videos you have already uploaded to Brightcove.TV will remain available on the site and through your Brightcove.TV channel. Videos you have embedded in other sites and blogs will also continue to play.

If you have a Brightcove Platform or Network account, which means you use the Brightcove Console, then you will still have the option to promote videos on Brightcove.TV.

Brightcove.TV will continue to be a guide to great video from Brightcove media and business partners. The site will have new videos added to it daily from these partners and these videos can be saved as favorite videos in your channel.

We appreciate your interest in Brightcove and apologize for any disruption this change may cause you.

Sincerely,
The Brightcove Team

An Inexperienced Team

Nothing truly revolutionary has been developed by Brightcove to make it stand out among other services, other than the recently launched Brightcove Show internet TV platform, and perhaps this is why. 

Whether the company has a shot a succeeding now is still a question that is up in the air. 

Some believe that the executives at Brightcove seem inexperienced for having received over $80 million in funding and still changing focus after three years in business, but I just hope that this is the last time. 

Before long, users will be so confused that no one will want to use the service if Brightcove cannot make a final, standing decision.

Expect the new, professional Brightcove.TV to offer the same choice of accounts (free, ad-supported network account or paid publisher account) and much of the same content, as most of Brightcove’s existing videos seemed to be provided by media partners.

Will Brightcove now finally be able to succeed or could this be the last move for an indecisive crew?

Michael Garrett is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com

After weeks of experimentation, the first embedded video advertisements went live.

Trawling my selection of news feeds this morning, I came across several rather amusing bits on a spat (well, maybe not a spat, but I’ll put the word to use here anyhow) being had between VideoEgg and YouTube.

The former is more or less accusing the latter of stealing its overlaid-ad thunder. 

The latter’s response, well, actually there’s been no response, from what I gather. 

This deal is interesting because it allows syndication of Fox content throughout the internet using embedded video. Fox will handle advertising for all content displayed in the Brightcove player. Fox Entertainment Group’s content will extend beyond just Fox’s websites.

Brightcove has existing agreements with major players like CBS, MTV Networks, and Discovery, although none have been exclusive. This new deal is for Fox’s exclusive online partnership. You won’t be seeing Fox content on YouTube anytime soon.

Content is king for internet video. This is a major deal for Brightcove, which is aiming to ink similar exclusive partnerships with other major networks and companies.

Its new online TV service is called “Interactive Audience Network” and is really giving the finger to YouTube.

Who needs YouTube

This is one of the biggest pushes to bring traditional TV content online we’ve seen to date.

CBS has agreed distribution deals for all this TV content with a number of online platforms, but guess what, no YouTube.

The links appear in time with the creatures appearing on screen and link to further information on the animal. The video also features a Google Map showing the location of the dive site.

Use for advertising

You can easily see how this could be used to present relevant affiliate links alongside the video as it plays. These types of adverts would be a highly effective way to create revenue without being intrusive.

Relevant adverts are more likely to get a response from web surfers than irrelevant pre-roll adverts. Since advertisers are already reluctant to advertise with pre-roll adverts because of the expense of production, relevant text links provide a great alternative.

This sort of advertising can allow small time video publishers to cash in without presenting obtrusive adverts and while pre-roll and post-roll adverts are thin on the ground.

– Funny animals and weird stories at WTF Stuff.com
– Send SMS messages for free online using TextForFree.com’s Free Text Messaging service

Jeremy Allaire recently discussed the future of internet television during his Keynote speech at the Fall 2006 Video on the Net Conference. You can watch the 30 minute video of him below.

Jeremy was unsurprisingly focused on the Brightcove product, and I must admit, if I was a serious content creator I would be signing up and using Brightcove quicker than a cheetah that’s just been kicked in the balls.

Brightcove offers so much to anyone who has quality content to post on the internet with more monetization options than anywhere else and clear control over how the content is displayed and where it is syndicated. Much of the Jeremy’s talk discusses what Brightcove does, and if you have listened to any of Jeremy’s talks before it may sound familiar.