Brightcove
Thanks to Adam Nash (eBay Group Product Manager) for pointing out this particular blog post…
I’m very interested in seeing where this company goes. After all, the business model they are employing is torn right out of the eBay playbook. Like eBay did for general ecommerce, Brightcove is attempting to level the playing field in the video entertainment market — positioning themselves as the transaction host, not the supplier or reseller. Just as eBay positioned themselves as the champion of the small-business retailer ten years ago, Brightcove is upping the high-tech ante, and positioning themselves as the champion of all the personal video producers out in cyberspace.
The founder of the company — Jeremy Allaire — even refers to the goal of “democratization of media” in his blog…very akin to some older eBay mission statements directed at more traditional commerce markets. While their business model is currently not defensible (again, eBay ten years ago), they have the potential to leverage first-to-market-share and and network effects to create economies of scale that would strongly position them to compete with other big technology and ecommerce players (eBay today).
Should be interesting to see what business model they choose to employ. Will they take another page from the eBay playbook and look to charge transaction fees? Will they try to build a business purely around video advertising (a la network television). Seems reasonable to invest in both directions; as Overture has already proven, even if the transaction host business (or in Overture’s case, the search business) doesn’t pan out, they have potential to position themselves as an advertising wholesaler in the world of digital media.
As a former TV guy and a current eBay guy, I’ll be watching this one closely…
November 29th, 2005 at 9:08 pm
Wow! First blog post an I’m already famous…
November 30th, 2005 at 1:04 pm
Boy, what an interesting analysis. Do you play cards too?
December 29th, 2005 at 11:59 am
[…] - Better Integration: I think the best thing about video in 2006 will be the emerging integration points, as well as some new business and revenue models around video content. I previously mentioned Brightcove as a company to watch, and they have recently formed an alliance with Reuter’s to provide a video player that can easily be embedded into affiliate websites, and that will stream news content updated multiple times per day. It is this type of integration that provides a win/win/win for the Internet (websites get free content, content providers get advertising revenue, and users get a richer content experience). […]
December 29th, 2005 at 2:13 pm
[…] - Better Integration: I think the best thing about video in 2006 will be the emerging integration points, as well as some new business and revenue models around video content. I previously mentioned Brightcove as a company to watch, and they have recently formed an alliance with Reuter’s to provide a video player that can easily be embedded into affiliate websites, and that will stream news content updated multiple times per day. It is this type of integration that provides a win/win/win for the Internet (websites get free content, content providers get advertising revenue, and users get a richer content experience). […]