Posts for 'Market7'

Looking over last month's posts with an eye for 2-3 themes to extract for my recap post today, I was instead struck by one overarching theme: innovation is alive and well in the broadband video space. Other sectors of the economy may have ground to a halt in the current recession, but whether it's new technologies, new service models or new approaches by traditional media companies, the pace of innovation in all things related to broadband video seems only to be accelerating.

Here are some of the examples from last month's posts:

New technologies

• SundaySky - a new approach to dynamically generate videos out of web site content
• HD Cloud - cloud-based encoding and transcoding plus 3rd party syndication
• Market7 - web-based platform for collaboratively creating and producing video
• FreeWheel - ad management/distribution company raises another $12M

New service models

• Sezmi - next-gen video service provider aiming to replace cable/satellite/telco
• TurnHere - distributed video production services for the corporate market
• Babelgum - premium-quality content destination for independent producers
• YuMe Mindshare iGRP - new measurement unit to compare on-air and online ad performance
• YouTube-Disney - short-form promotional deal

New approaches by traditional media companies

• Disney-Hulu - Exclusive 3rd party online distribution for established broadcast network
• Cable networks launching webisodes - online initiatives to attract and retain new online audiences
• New York magazine video re-launch - emphasis on curating best-of-the web videos with brand
• WWE Smashup - fan-submitted video mashup content driving awareness of on-air special

Now granted I have an eye out for broadband innovations so this list is somewhat self-serving. But remember that for every item above I was probably pitched on 2-3 others that I didn't write about due to time limitations. Some of these other items may have been picked up by other news outlets and captured in the news aggregation side of VideoNuze, while plenty of them likely received little attention.

My point is that throughout the whole broadband video ecosystem there is a vibrant sense of entrepreneurialism that is slowly but surely remaking the traditional video landscape. To be sure, not all of this stuff is going to work out; either business models will be faulty, technologies won't deliver as promised or consumers will reject what they're being offered. Nonetheless, from my vantage point, the wheels of innovation continue to spin faster. That makes it a very exciting time to be part of the industry.

What do you think? Post a comment now.

As more and more companies begin to exploit the power of video for promotion or product support, many individuals who have never managed the process of actually creating a high-quality video are getting a taste for how hard it is. Market7 is a new company that streamlines the collaboration process essential to producing high-quality video. Market7 was born from the frustrations that founder/CEO Seth Kenvin experienced trying to create company and product videos while VP of Strategic Marketing at Big Band Networks. Last week Seth explained to me how Market7 works.

As with other marketing or promotional collateral, at high level, the video production process starts with getting all stakeholders on board with the project, its goals and budget. But once approved, there are myriad production steps such as writing and finalizing the script, shooting and then managing the assets, editing, gathering comments on rough cuts, editing some more, and of course trying to keep the project on schedule. Often these steps are managed by a 3rd party video producer, but they still involve a lot of client interaction. While there are individual products for each of these process steps, Seth believes Market7 is the first all-in-one solution.

Market7 allows the project lead to manage process, including setting up tasks, timelines/deliverables and team member responsibilities. Producers upload video assets and other team members are able to annotate the video with their comments, including on the video itself at specific points. That allows feedback to be highly targeted ("the background is too dark in this scene") and thus more actionable by editors. Market7 is not meant to be an online editor, but rather a collaboration environment that moves a project from script development through to final cut as efficiently as possible. The full product suite is available as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), with pricing based on storage, admin accounts, support level and branding flexibility.

While Seth believes there are lots of different potential customers, he sees the sweet spot in corporate video production, with the videos used for online promotion, trade show support, on-site product demos or internal use. That said, there are a number of agencies using the product, along with an animation studio, infomercial producer and a couple of broadcast and cable TV networks. Market7 is a little bit like Wistia, another early stage company I wrote about recently that's also enhancing collaboration around video production. I'm very intrigued by these kinds of companies that are sprouting up around the video ecosystem. Neither one is likely to become a direct substitute for big budget video productions, but with so many new companies now trying to tap the power of online video, cost-effective yet robust tools like Market7's address real pain points in the market today.

What do you think? Post a comment now.