Brightcove is powering NBCU's recently-launched Emmy screener app for the iPad dubbed "NBCU Screen It" with its App Cloud and Video Cloud platforms. The app allows 15,000 members of the Television Academy who vote on the Emmy awards to gain authenticated access to view NBC's programs.

David Mendels, president and COO of Brightcove, told me yesterday that NBC is one of the first customers to adopt both App Cloud and Video Cloud, the company's two flagship products. Brightcove is positioning App Cloud as a way for content providers to quickly and cost-effectively roll out iOS and Adroid apps, leveraging HTML5 and cloud delivery. David emphasized that while content providers have been eager to introduce new apps, what they've found is that they are expensive to launch, challenging to maintain/refresh and difficult to measure success. App Cloud aims to address all of these pain points, with a "life cycle" approach from development to deployment and ongoing measurement and maintenance.

Despite the frenzy around app development for iOS and Android, to date there have actually not been all that many video-oriented apps (the most noteworthy is surely HBO GO). That could well change, as the new iPad's higher-resolution screen is tailor-made for delivering rich video apps. Couple that with video providers' intense interest in reaching viewers beyond the TV, and we could be on the cusp of an explosion of video apps.  

(Note: Brightcove is a VideoNuze sponsor)