Video startup Zype unveiled its online video platform today, which it says can help publishers grow and monetize their audiences.
To be clear, it’s not trying to compete with YouTube or other video players like BrightCove. Yes, it has created a video player of its own, but the main focus is on helping companies build an online presence for their videos and serving those videos from whatever player makes sense, whether it’s YouTube, Hulu, or Zype itself.
“At the end of the day, the consumer consumer doesn’t care what the player is — they just want to get the content in the best way possible,” said founder Ed Laczynski.
Zype has created what it calls Dynamic Player Technology, which serves the video from a specific player depending on the device and location of the user. So if you’ve got a video on, say, Hulu, Zype will show the Hulu video where possible, but could show a Zype version of the video where Hulu’s licensing rights are restricted. The Zype team gave me a demo where they could upload a video and set up the rules for how it’s served in just a couple of minutes.
Zype can be used to build websites, mobile web pages, and native apps for mobile and set-top boxes. On the monetization side, it can offer subscription, advertising and pay-per-video capabilities.
Even though the company is only officially announcing its product today, it says it has been working with customers for the past year. Those customers include Konami’s 4K Media, which used Zype to build the Yu-Gi-Oh video site.