Comments on: Public Markets: No Place for Online Video

By: Vid-Biz: ThePlatform, Funding, ZVUE « NewTeeVee

Vid-Biz: ThePlatform, Funding, ZVUE « NewTeeVee — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:55:04 +0000

[...] Restructures eBaums World Deal, Gets $1M; with a potential stock de-listing pressing down on it, the company negotiates to pay eBaum less now with more to come, plus ZVUE CTO [...]

By: Internet’s Least-wanted Gig: Online Video CEO - GigaOM

Internet’s Least-wanted Gig: Online Video CEO - GigaOM — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:40:08 +0000

[...] will be “our highest priority this year.” Meanwhile, the few public online video companies are feeling the pressure even more [...]

By: Free Video Templates

Free Video Templates — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:20:44 +0000

but you can see that online TV is everywhere now...

wheres the USP?

The outcome is obvious..

By: MikeM

MikeM — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:17:05 +0000

Nice article, good question. Go Fish (GOFH.ob) seems to have found an incredible niche as an ad network. As I understand the business model they serve ads to their network partners like Weeworld and others and catch a piece of the ad revenues.
They claim an average CPM served at $5 which seems very low. Brands should be willing to pay a little more than that to get in front of the tween demo I should think.
With private equity throwing money fast at startups you would think the publicly traded issues like Go Fish and KIT Digital (RGRP.ob), should enjoy similar investment by the same investors looking for nice returns.
Obviously I don’t understand VC’s and their money.

By: Justin Kownacki

Justin Kownacki — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:55:21 +0000

What’s interesting to me is that everyone is still subscribing to the “put everything everywhere” ‘business’ model — as in, “all channels sharing all content non-exclusively.”

What ever happened to the concept of scarcity? I’m surprised the various video channels aren’t trying to differentiate themselves by becoming the homebase for specific shows, and then building a stable of promote-able content, rather than all fighting over the same content and then trying to differentiate themselves by… um…

By: Michael Gersh

Michael Gersh — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:58:56 +0000

There may not be making mega bucks on a scale that the studios or the Amazons of the world need to declare a success, but there are plenty of lesser players making a go of it. Many of these smaller companies have unimaginative management, techies suffering from founder’s disease, but there are a few places to buy public stock in this space. It just wouldn’t be prudent to invest in a loser. I sure wouldn’t advise anyone to invest in my (ex)company until there is a management change . As soon as dynamic management arrives, the story will be there for everyone to see, and those who can move fast can take the ride. But austerity is not a business strategy, since waiting is a loser’s game.

By: Steve Warner

Steve Warner — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:11:09 +0000

Ever try calling them? I have. No answer for "sales" and "business development" - just generic voicemail boxes.

Not surprising at all to me that they are not doing well.

By: Deborah Block-Schwenk

Deborah Block-Schwenk — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:17:13 +0000

I agree with Drew that figuring out a way to hang in there and “wait for the ad model to catch up” is probably the best strategy for these companies, unless someone can up with a radically different business model. If I was a venture capitalist, I’d see if who was looking at this space from a new angle.

By: Drew

Drew — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:36:50 +0000

If revenues < costs, a) raise prices, b) increase volumes and/or c) cut costs. Options a and b are non-starters as effective CPMs are low and adloads are tiny. This leaves option c. The options are cut the cost of c1) production c2) promotion or c3) delivery. Anyone who is producing content strictly for internet is cooked and they know it, so let's assume content MUST be repurposed from TV or film and thus "free". Cutting promotion budgets is silly but then again no one knows how to do it anyway. So that goes to zero. Cut delivery costs! An easy one - no more fat 900 Kbps pictures streamed by high priced CDNs. No more near HDTV quality. A lot less VoD and more streaming.

In sum, cut costs to a minimum and wait for the ad model to catch up. Anyone who can hang around for a few years will do OK. Survival of the austere.

By: Daniel S

Daniel S — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:40:42 +0000

ROI ROI ROI…. why should any one out money on these platforms?