Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 4:17 PM PT

Veoh Lays Off 20%

Veoh, the online video startup, has made its second round of layoffs this fall, cutting 20 percent of its 110 employees this afternoon out of both its San Diego and Los Angeles offices. It said it still expects to be profitable next year.

“We have to make sure we have enough capital to weather the [economic] storm and ensure that we are operating with an efficient footprint,” Veoh CEO Steve Mitgang told us.

Mitgang sees Veoh’s primary objectives as one, organizing video; two, helping people discover video; and three, making money. He also said the company has had to make a number of tactical decisions in the last year to save money, including exiting international markets, building a plug-in for peer-to-peer streaming in the browser in order to lower bandwidth costs, and laying off its St. Petersburg development office in order to hire people with more appropriate skills in the U.S. However, Mitgang did not name any projects that would be cut in association with the layoffs.

Mitgang said Veoh has a global audience of between 25 million and 28 million, with more than a third of that in the U.S. We were struck by his comment that Veoh has had success monetizing by “selling audience.” That means the site targets its advertising based on users’ behavior rather than the content itself. And what that means is that Veoh is actually monetizing user-generated content, something few people are even trying (the key word for most everyone else is “premium.”)

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Topic: Hitlines, Picks, Startups

Comments (1)

I am always amazed at the amount of people to make a website work, Here i was thinking that a couple af tekkies and someone creative would do the trick. I think Veoh should venture out into other areas instead of laying of staff in this current economic crisis. Oh yes, they will make a profit this year toboot. Is there no more moral ethics or compassion left in the world

Tubbytat — 11:43 AM on November 6, 2008 Reply

Linkbacks (6)

[...] for Veoh — the video portal just laid off 20 percent of its staff of 110 employees in Los Angeles and San Diego offices, reports New TeeVee. The company [...]

Contentinople - Eve Bergazyn - News Bits… — 8:09 AM on November 6, 2008
[...] that has the potential to adversely impact the startup on just about every one of its fronts. A number of online video sites are announcing layoffs, video game companies, which were once thought to be [...]

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[...] including Intel and Adobe. On the other hand, like every other video startup, Veoh also recently made layoffs. And the video search and discovery space is not exactly empty; strengthening players include [...]

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Veoh: The Opposite of a Video Portal? … — 5:19 PM on February 15, 2009
[...] laid off 20 percent of its then-110 employees last November. It also shut a Russian office and its 15-18 employees in October. Perhaps the first outward sign [...]

Veoh Lays Off 40, Updates to Follow — 10:21 AM on April 1, 2009
[...] laid off 20 percent of its then-110 employees last November. It also shuttered a Russian office and let go of its 15-18 employees in October. Perhaps the first [...]

Veoh Lays Off 40, Updates to Follow — 12:42 PM on April 1, 2009