Memocast, an online seller of foreign language films, is seeking its first round of venture funding in the coming months to grow its library and start marketing its service. Memocast is carving out a space in the movie download business. While a variety of companies are slugging it out to sell Hollywood features, Memocast is seeking to be the site of choice for those wanting foreign language and international films. Currently, the site is really for those seeking Russian titles. It has a smattering of titles in other languages with a goal of ultimately selling films in 43 languages. It’s not hard to find some things to criticize about the site, particularly in the visual design arena. It still has a totally homegrown look, which can cause some reluctance to hand over a credit card. But since it generally doesn’t get in the way of the viewing experience, I’d rather focus on the business. The site has three levels of service. You can stream films for free if you are willing to watch commercials. You can download a DVD quality film or video at prices ranging from $1.99 to $3.99 or you can have access to the entire library without commercials via stream for $7.99/month. Memocast acquired most of its content to date from a company called Films By Jove who holds distribution rights to Souzmultfilm, which I’m told is a Russian equivalent of a major Hollywood studio. Films By Jove provides movies and television shows, and has recently been sending Soviet era propaganda films (a treat if you’ve never seen one) to Memocast. By going after a largely ignored, but big demographic (millions of US residents hailing from elsewhere or speaking another language in the home), they are showing 70K streams per week (more than ½ to subscribers) and are averaging about 1000 downloads per month. Revenue is growing as more people discover the site and they say they are closing in on profitability, which is more affirmation of the core tenet of web commerce — reaching down the long tail can pay off. There is also an interesting advertising angle here. If you want to be assured of reaching a certain ethnic audience, there is no better way than to go to a site that caters to that audience. I was surprised by how little direct competition I found thus far. I’m sure it’s there, but it’s probably → Read More