The Outlook for Video Startups in 2009
The new year doesn’t promise to bring much in the way of good tidings for most startups, much less those with the shaky business models found in digital media. But, at the same time, online video consumption is a strengthening reality that won’t be suppressed by tough economic times. So, if you’re involved in a video venture looking out at the spread for 2009, where do you stand?
First of all, let’s talk about where things ended up last year. The big news items for video startups (and young, internal ventures at big companies) in 2008 were acquisitions, layoffs and shut-downs — and of course fundings. Many of the companies we cover raised funding last year, though the pace of new investments slowed along with the economy. (As for including a category for IPOs…yeah right.) To recap some of the highlights (and lowlights):
First on Mars, Last With the Idea?
Hulu. Fancast. Sling.com. Joost. Veoh. These are all video portals trying to be the one-stop online shop for you to enjoy every bit of TV network content. Despite this crowded field of heavy hitters, First on Mars is throwing its hat into the premium content ring today to try and become — you guessed it, the one-stop online shop for all your TV watching needs.
Believing that establishing official relationships with studios and networks would be too laborious and costly (there is some logic to that), First on Mars is a lot like OpenHulu (and Prime Time Rewind, Modern Feed, Mefeedia…noticing a trend?) in that it just embeds video players or web pages from other content sites like Hulu or Comedy Central.
First on Mars founder and CEO Tuhin Roy is aware of the competition, but believes his company’s “Web 2.0″ approach to serving up video content is its competitive advantage. First on Mars has a graphical interface and allows you to discover content by selecting the “mood” you’re in, such as hilarious, bleak, sexy, etc. (Though typically when I watch online video I’m not in a “bleak” mood.)
Bringing TV to the Web: 1Cast Tries Its Hand at Clipping
When RedLasso took down its TV clipping service earlier this year amidst legal action by the TV networks, bloggers who used the service to embed clips of breaking news stories, memorable quotes and gaffes were left without a replacement. Many former users, including Perez Hilton, Jossip, Hot Air and the Huffington Post, have felt the service’s absence in their daily gossip and politics coverage, and at times resorted to ripping and posting TV clips themselves. Now a new service called 1Cast, which we had the scoop on a few months ago, is giving the space an authorized try.
RedLasso not only had an extremely useful (if legally questionable) searchable index of everything that aired on TV, it also had editorial filters to alert its bloggers when hot items came on the tube. “The great thing about RedLasso is that they would alert me of breaking news items of interest to me almost instantly,” Perez Hilton said via email. “Now there’s a much longer delay. Sad.”
VC Woody Benson on What to Do Now
Woody Benson is a VC with Prism VentureWorks in Boston, which has funded new media startups like Comedy.com and Worldwide Biggies (whose MoCap, LLC web series just got picked up by Spike TV). He spoke at The Conversation conference in Berkeley yesterday. Given the rough week tech companies were having, I thought I’d ask him a few questions to get a VC’s perspective on what new media startups should do right now.
Benson was hardly doom and gloom. In fact he considered now a great time for startups to find cheap real estate and programming talent. He did echo the sentiments of other VCs and likened startup hygiene to flossing — you gotta pay attention to how your spending money every day. Hear what else he had to say in this brief video interview.
See also our guest-post on similar topics by VC Danny Cohen of Gemini Israel.
Eyespot Shuts Down (Did Someone Press Fast-Forward on the Video-Editing Startups?)
Eyespot, a San Diego-based online video startup, has shut down operations and is trying to sell its assets. News of the dissolution comes via a Twitter from Eyespot co-founder David Dudas picked up by TechCrunch.
Eyespot had initially offered web-based video editing tools before changing strategy earlier this year to be yet another white-label video vendor. Its white-label customers had at one time included Demand Media’s eHow and ExpertVillage. The company raised $3.7 million in October 2006.
The web video editing tool market has seen a lot of carnage and also payouts along the way. It’s never been all that clear to me exactly why some companies lost and some won. For some reason the little sliver of a sector played out in fast-forward compared other online video startups, many of whom continue to trudge along.
Vuclip, the Secret Mobile-Video Phenom
What if I were to tell you there was a mobile-video startup you’d never heard of that sees 100 million page views per month from users in 130 countries using 2,000 different devices? Don’t worry, pigs still can’t fly.
But Vuclip, which is officially launching Tuesday after spending a year under the name Blueapple.mobi, has a mobile video search interface accessible through the web and WAP. The Milpitas, Calif.-based company transcodes videos on the fly for playback on each handset, and from my experience, it works extremely quickly and well.
SheZoom Needs Cyndi Lauper
With the proliferation of companies in the online video space tripping over themselves to cater to young men, it’s nice to see someone other than Oprah or iVillage targeting female audiences. SheZoom is a new video site that’s angling to be an “upbeat and engaging community that encourages women to laugh, learn, share and connect.”
SheZoom offers original, partnered and user-generated video. Content categories include relationships, food, tech, money and more. It’s even brought on experts in different fields to provide advice on particular topics. And to help you make your selection, SheZoom will even ask what you’re in the mood to do — choices include “laugh,” “cry,” “bitch” and “moan.”
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