The online video space, really?
Yeah, really. We know this is a very crowded space and there are so many well funded ventures plus VC’s who are adamant about not investing in the space. However, we think it’s one of the most interesting spaces out there for a couple of reasons.
First. It’s chaotic. We have both consumer generated content and premium content (that is content that we consider network/cable worthy even though it may never air there) and everything in between. We got started in this space with tools that we just built for ourselves. When Hulu finally got going, we saw it as the disrupter that we were looking for that would open the opportunity for smaller plays like ourselves (cause god knows there is not space for one more youtube knockoff). Now that the big boys are throwing money at this space everyday, users are going to start looking at the web as viable entertainment rather than just a place to surf.
Second. It’s part of an established media market. The broadcast/cable/satellite video media market is 80 billion – that market is moving to online at an increasing rate. With the recession, advertisers are going to be putting their money into campaigns that have greater transparency. There is plenty of room for innovation in advertising products especially ones that are not disruptive like pre/post-roll and lower third banners.
Third. Ubiquity. Now this point is still a bit way off, but content distribution is really becoming about being able to reach everyone everywhere. Let’s look at our favorite peeps again Hulu. They are distributing everywhere (even limited with youtube). There are so many ways to participate — there is just opportunity everywhere.
So the opportunity is vast – for us, the challenge is to find that “thin-edge-of-the-wedge” to get some traction. More about that later.
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