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Jivox Raises $8.2 Million to Fuel Interactive Video Ads
Interactive video ad technology provider Jivox has raised an $8.2 million second round, led by Fortisure Ventures, with participation from existing investors. Diaz Nesamoney, Jivox's CEO and founder told me yesterday that the funds will be used to expand sales and marketing and further develop its technology platform.
Jivox sees its differentiators as simplifying the process of creating interactive video ad across multiple devices for both in-banner (i.e. rich media) and
in-stream (i.e. pre-roll, mid-roll, etc.) formats. Jivox also distinguishes itself with "BrandGage," its proprietary analytics platform that adds tags to all engagement opportunities in the ad and then maps them into a funnel to deliver higher ROIs. Diaz explained that click-through rates on Jivox ads can range from 2%-8%. He added that brands are demanding more social media integration in their ads, and the ability to serve and track user behavior across platforms and units has become very appealing.
Jivox has raised almost $19 million to date. Campaigns using Jivox currently running include Showtime (for "Gold Rush"), Franklin Templeton and others.Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings
Topics: Jivox
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Adobe Expands Into Online Video Advertising Through Auditude Acquisition
Adobe is expanding into the surging online video advertising space, announcing that it has acquired video ad manager Auditude, whose Connect platform is used by customers such as Comcast, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Dailymotion and others. Adobe views Auditude as providing the monetization piece of an integrated Adobe solution that already includes video creation, publishing and optimization across all IP-enabled devices. Auditude had raised approximately $40 million to date.
The overall solution is targeted to premium video publishers and distributors where Adobe already has a strong footprint through its Flash Media products and Digital Marketing Suite (i.e. Omniture). The deal seems like a pretty smart move since at a minimum Auditude will benefit from exposure to Adobe's large customer base. Adobe's positioning of the deal as streamlining work flows from creation through monetization/measurement will also resonate with publishers who are swamped trying to keep up with myriad new devices, platforms and social media opportunities.
Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings
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Irdeto Acquires Piracy Detection Firm BayTSP
Software security provider Irdeto is acquiring media anti-piracy firm BayTSP, the companies are announcing this morning. BayTSP's monitoring and business intelligence technology will broaden Irdeto's range of security solutions for studios, pay-TV providers and media companies, including its ActiveCloak renewal security system. BayTSP counts Comcast, Sony and Toshiba among its clients. Martin Sendyk, Irdeto's SVP, Product and Stuart Rosove, BayTSP's CEO briefed me on the details late last week.
Categories: Deals & Financings, DRM, P2P, Technology
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No Surprise, No Deal for Hulu. Here's What Changed.
Last evening, Hulu's owners announced in a short statement that the company will not be sold after all. The news came as no surprise to me. VideoNuze readers will recall that back on June 22, when the first rumors of Hulu potentially being up for sale surfaced, I posted, "Here's Why Any Deal for Hulu is Unlikely."
In that post I explained how Hulu's primary asset - next-day distribution rights to ABC/Fox/NBC programs - would be at the heart of its valuation. The
big challenge with selling Hulu was that its owners would have to pass these rights (albeit likely reformulated) to an unaffiliated and uncontrollable 3rd-party, at the same time as online video delivery has injected massive uncertainty into their businesses. This issue, rather than lower-than-expected bids as some have tritely suggested, is why Hulu's owners ultimately decided to pull Hulu off the block.
Though this was always the central issue in any Hulu deal, I believe 3 things happened in the past 4 months that crystallized the importance for Hulu's owners of maintaining full control of their distribution rights:
Categories: Aggregators, Deals & Financings
Topics: Comcast, Disney, Hulu, News Corp.
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Over $236 Million Raised in Q3 '11 By Private Online/Mobile Video Companies
Private online and mobile video companies raised at least $236.5 million in Q3 '11, the largest amount since Q2 '10 when $247 million was raised. It's also a huge rebound from Q2 '11's $84 million which was the lowest in the past 2 years. I've compiled the total from numerous sources I track and as always, it is possible that I missed some news during the quarter. If so, please let me know and I'll update the list.
As detailed below, the $236.5 million was raised by 20 companies, with 2 additional financings undisclosed (ClipSync and Ooyala). Of the $236.5 million, 62%, or $147 million, flowed to just 5 companies, Tango ($42M), Tremor Video ($37M), Thought Equity Motion ($25M), Vidyo ($22.5M) and Zenverge ($20.5M). All of these were later stage rounds in companies that had previously raised substantial sums.
As I always like to add in these roundups, too much shouldn't be read into one quarter's data as financings close when they do - a few days one way or the other and quarters can look very different.
Still, the number and breadth of the financings across the online and mobile video value chain - from chips to monetization - is solid evidence that investors remain bullish on video's potential. This should continue as video usage increases, devices proliferate and advertisers accelerate their spending.
In addition to the financings, there was also significant M&A activity and public financings in Q3, which are noted below.
Categories: Deals & Financings
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Investors Stay Bullish On Video As Vidyo and Visible Measures Raise New Rounds
Investors continue to be bullish on video-related companies, with news this morning of two more significant financings: Vidyo, an HD video telepresence provider has raised a $22.5 million Series D round (for a total of $97 million since inception), and Visible Measures, a social video advertising and analytics provider, has raised a $13 million Series D round (for a total of $45 million to date). The Vidyo financing was led by QuestMark Partners and the Visible Measures round by DAG Ventures and new strategic partner Advance Publications, parent of Conde Nast and other magazines. Each company's existing investors participated their financings as well.
Categories: Deals & Financings
Topics: Vidyo, Visible Measures
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Thought Equity Motion Acquires Panvidea To Streamline Video Delivery
Cloud-based video platform Thought Equity Motion has acquired Panvidea, bringing together two complimentary companies that are focused on streamlining digital video management, work flow and delivery. Thought Equity's CEO/founder Kevin Schaff and Panvidea's CEO/co-founder Chris Cali (who will become VP, Platform Technologies) briefed me on the deal.
The big picture here is that as digital delivery to multiple devices gains steam, the back-end processes of getting high value content quickly, securely and cost-effectively to the right places becomes critical. Distributing via tape with lots of manual steps involved isn't acceptable any longer. Kevin sees Panvidea's platform, which manages the full spectrum of video preparation (ingest, storage, customization, transcoding and delivery to multiple platforms/devices), as complimenting Thought Equity's platform which is focused on master file and archive management. Combining the capabilities is intended to give content providers a full end-to-end solution.
Categories: Deals & Financings, Technology
Topics: Panvidea, Thought Equity Motion
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Innovid Raises $9.5 Million to Fuel Interactive Video Ads
Innovid, whose iRoll interactive pre-roll ad unit delivers a higher ROI for advertisers and publishers, is announcing a $9.5 million Series B financing led by
Sequoia Capital, with participation from current investors Genesis Capital and T-Venture. The new funds will help fuel global expansion. Innovid is Sequoia's first investment in the video advertising space. Innovid raised a $4 million first round in September, 2010.
Innovid is now integrated with every U.S. video ad network and 2,100 sites are iRoll certified. iRoll allows advertisers to reach viewers with a limitless array of engagement opportunities, far beyond what standard pre-rolls can offer (a gallery of examples is here). These can include social media sharing, shopping opportunities and localized information, among others. Innovid has also introduced DYNAMO, an ad serving and analytics platform that works with all pre-roll ads and can also measure and report all interactions with iRoll ads.
Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings
Topics: Innovid, Sequoia Capital
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Brightcove Files $50 Million IPO, Investors Get A Rare Pure-Play Opportunity in White-Hot Online Video Space
Cloud-based video platform provider Brightcove has filed to raise up to $50 million in an initial public offering (IPO). Rumors of an IPO have floated
around Brightcove almost since the company's inception 7 years ago, but gained steam in the last year as the company hired Chris Menard as its CFO (who previously served as CFO of publicly-traded Phase Forward). Given the choppiness in the public markets, it's not clear when the offering will occur, but when it does Brightcove will give investors a rare pure-play investment opportunity in the white-hot online video space.
Brightcove's S-1 reveals the company has nearly 3,300 customers in 50+ countries, including The New York Times Company, Oracle, Showtime, Philips Electronics and Macy's. Revenue in the first 6 months of 2011 were $28.4 million, up from $20.3 million in the first 6 months of 2010. Brightcove's net loss was $17.8 million in 2010 and $9.7 million in the first 6 months of 2011. The company has raised nearly $100 million to date and cash on-hand exceeded $24 million on June 30th.
Categories: Deals & Financings
Topics: Brightcove
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Thought Equity Motion Raises $25 Million For Cloud-Based Video Asset Management
Thought Equity Motion has raised $25 million from Shamrock Capital Advisors to further develop its cloud-based video asset management platform and
expand globally. As Kevin Schaff, CEO and founder of Thought Equity Motion explained to me last week, the company is capitalizing on the media industry's shift from analog to digital work flows which is improving operational reliability, saving capex and opening new revenue opportunities.
Thought Equity Motion has optimized its cloud service for media companies that want to move from storing high-value libraries on tape or on local hard drives to doing so in the cloud. First and foremost, Kevin said the company's focus is on secure, redundant master file storage. Thought Equity Motion's cloud is particularly suited to large video file sizes with high throughput ingest and encoding. The company is now ingesting 1 petabyte of video per month, a dramatic increase from just 6 months ago. Files are kept at a secure, enterprise-class physical storage facility with on-demand encoding and access.
Categories: Deals & Financings, Technology
Topics: ACC, NCAA, Shamrock Capital Advisors, Thought Equity Motion
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Google Gets Its Nose Into Pay-TV Operators' Tent With Motorola Deal
A byproduct of today's blockbuster deal by Google to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion is that Google is getting its nose into pay-TV operators' tent via Motorola's huge set-top box business. Set-tops are part of Motorola's Home segment, which in Q2 generated over $900 million in revenue, a little less than a third of Motorola's total.
Google would dearly love to have a bigger presence in the digital living room, but its initial efforts with Google TV have not borne much fruit, despite the fact that Google took an industry-friendly approach by trying to augment
pay-TV services rather than disrupt them. Now however, with Motorola's deep industry relationships, Google will gain much better insight into pay-TV operators' thinking that could help drive partnership opportunities. Importantly, this could translate into improved product integration between Google's software and Motorola's hardware platforms that could give Google its best shot yet at getting into the living room (throw Google potentially acquiring Hulu and the living room fight gets even more interesting).
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Deals & Financings, Technology
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MOVIECLIPS.com Partners With YouTube, Raises $7 Million
MOVIECLIPS.com has struck a deal with YouTube so that 20,000+ licensed HD movie clips will now become available in the "Movie Extras" section of
YouTube movies, as well as on the MOVIECLIPS YouTube channel. In addition, MOVIECLIPS is announcing a $7 million Series B financing led by MK Capital and including prior investors.
The YouTube distribution deal is significant in giving MOVIECLIPS' library broader exposure and monetization potential than it has had. MOVIECLIPS has struck licensing deals with six Hollywood studios. MOVIECLIPS uses its technology to generate up to 1,000 points of metadata, so that users can quickly find the best of Hollywood's most memorable moments.
Categories: Aggregators, Deals & Financings, FIlms
Topics: MOVIECLIPS.com, YouTube
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Chinese Video Site Tudou Sees Tough Timing With IPO
With the Dow down almost 400 points today, and investors running for cover from risk, Chinese video site Tudou is looking at some pretty tough timing for its IPO. In an updated SEC filing, Tudou has proposed selling 6 million American Depositary Shares for between $28-30 each, raising up to $180 million.
Categories: Deals & Financings, International
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Hulu Sale Process Has Become One Big Leak-a-thon
Late last week when Bloomberg reported that Apple is "considering making a bid" for Hulu, it inevitably ignited a series of follow-on articles and tweetsfrom other outlets, amplifying the perception of seriousness. How meaningful "considering making a bid" actually is nobody but the insiders really know. However, the Apple "news" underscored how the process of selling Hulu has become one big leak-a-thon, with bankers and others involved with the process continuously leaking selective nuggets of information to major media outlets as unnamed sources, no doubt with an eye to shaping how the sale process plays itself out.
In fact, even the decision to sell Hulu has never been officially acknowledged by Hulu itself; rather, the LA Times reported that bankers had been retained. That news was preceded by leaks that Yahoo had approached Hulu about an acquisition, that Hulu was considering selling itself, and that Fox, one of Hulu's owners and key content suppliers had renewed its license deal. In the month since these tidbits were released, there have been numerous other leaks, which I have listed below with links, noting the anonymous references each article cites (apologies to any I may have missed).
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters, Deals & Financings
Topics: Comcast, Disney, Hulu, News Corp.
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VideoNuze Report Podcast #103 - Q2 '11 Financings - July 8, 2011
Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 103rd edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for July 8, 2011.
In this week's podcast, Daisy and I discuss private online and mobile video company financing in Q2 '11. Earlier this week I reported that $84 million was raised, which was the lowest quarterly amount in the last 2 years. Daisy and I consider what that means and also where things might be heading from here. Listen in to learn more.
Click here to listen to the podcast (11 minutes, 1 second)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!
Categories: Deals & Financings, Podcasts
Topics: Deals and Financings, Podcast
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Irdeto Bolsters Blu-ray Security With BD+ Acquisition from Rovi
Irdeto, which provides software security services for digital media, is expanding its focus to Blu-ray discs, announcing it has acquired BD+
technology from Rovi. Irdeto's SVP of Product Martin Sendyk and VP of Technology Greg McKesey explained to me that the plan is to integrate BD+ with Irdeto's ActiveCloak for Media, in order to combat Blu-ray piracy in the initial period following a disc's release when the vast majority of its potential revenue is realized.
Categories: Deals & Financings, Technology
Topics: BD+, Blu-ray, Irdeto, Rovi
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$84 Million Raised in Q2 '11 By Private Online/Mobile Video Companies, A 2-Year Low
Despite the frenzy of digital media and technology IPOs occurring these days, private online and mobile video oriented companies raised a relatively modest $84 million in Q2 '11, the lowest level in the past 2 years. The total is derived from numerous public sources I track and the companies themselves; as always, it is possible that I missed some news during the quarter, if so, please let me know and I'll update the list.
The $84 million was raised by 13 companies (also a 2-year low), and of the amount, almost two-thirds came from just 3 companies, Digitalsmiths ($12.5M), VideoSurf ($16M) and Animoto ($25M). The Q2 total was suppressed versus prior quarters not only because of lower volume, but also because there were no big video ad network, online video platform or device financings announced, which have tended to be larger is size. As I'm always quick to add, too much shouldn't be read into one quarter's data as financings close when they do - a few days one way or the other and quarters can look very different.
In addition to the financings, there were a range of acquisitions both in and adjacent to the online/mobile video area, along with other notable financings. Overall there was a lot of market activity in Q2 and there's plenty of reason it will continue in Q3 (the potential Hulu acquisition is just one example). Continue reading for Q2's financings and deals. Lead investors are noted.
Categories: Deals & Financings
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No Surprise, Google is Kicking Hulu's Tires
The LA Times is reporting that Google has met with Hulu and its representatives about possibly acquiring the site. Others reported to have met include Microsoft and Yahoo. The news isn't surprising given Google's well-known appetite for adding premium Hollywood to its offering and its general acquisitiveness. Despite my skepticism about whether a Hulu deal can get done with anyone given the complexity around long-term distribution rights from its network owners, I suggested that Google, along with Apple and Netflix, would be the most likely prospective acquirers. Still, it's very early in the process, so lots will still happen.
Meanwhile, Hulu acquisition activity doesn't seem to have slowed down product innovation. Today Hulu announced a clever new integration with Facebook that allows Hulu viewers to share comments on a specific scene in Hulu programs with their Facebook friends along with a link to that scene. Hulu is also enabling login using Facebook credentials, something that has become popular at many sites (update: it looks like there was an implementation issue, so Hulu has pulled back this feature for now). The push to socialize Hulu is part of a broader trend to bring social media behavior to TV viewing.
Categories: Aggregators, Deals & Financings
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VideoNuze Report Podcast #101 - More on Hulu Sale - June 24, 2011
In this week's podcast, Daisy and I discuss the potential sale of Hulu, which was the big story of the week in the online video world. We recorded the podcast just prior to the news breaking that Hulu has retained investment bankers. Obviously there's been a lot of speculation this week about a sale, and since Hulu's main asset is exclusive online distribution rights to its 3 owners' programs, I maintain that to the extent that those rights are diluted, Hulu's valuation will diminish and a sale will be more challenging.
Click here to listen to the podcast (12 minutes, 32 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters, Deals & Financings
Topics: Hulu
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OK, Hulu's for Sale; Can a Deal Get Done and Who are the Frontrunners?
Following yesterday's rumors, the LA Times is now reporting that Hulu has hired two investment banks, Guggenheim Partners and Morgan Stanley, toexplore a potential sale. As I described in Here's Why Any Deal For Hulu Is Unlikely, the banks have their work cut out for them. The critical issue is that Hulu's main asset - exclusive next-day distribution rights to 3 of the 4 broadcast TV networks' programs (ABC, FOX and NBC) - will be at the heart of Hulu's valuation. (Note that just 6 months ago Hulu's plan to go public was undermined by these same rights not being viewed as sufficiently long-term).
To the extent that the rights get diluted (e.g. become non-exclusive, limit monetization opportunities, delay program release windows, reduce the number of programs, etc.), acquirers will ratchet down their valuations accordingly. And this is where the banks' task will become especially complicated; each of the networks' owners (Disney, News Corp. and Comcast) has very different strategic objectives which are further clouded by all the uncertainty that online and mobile video has created. Pinning down if and how they would work with each specific bidder will be quite the Rubik's cube exercise.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters, Deals & Financings
Topics: Comcast, Disney, Hulu, News Corp.
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