In another move to strengthen the anti-YouTube coalition, Viacom is syndicating its videos (from Comedy Central, MTV Networks, Nickelodeon, and Atom Films, among other properties) to a whole new slew of video-sharing Websites. The new recipients of Viacom’s video love are Dailymotion, Veoh (which already has Hulu and CBS videos), imeem, GoFish, and MeeVee. They join AOL, Bebo, Joost, MSN, and Comcast’s Fancast in gaining access to Viacom’s video library. Viacom obviously wants to strengthen the hand of other video Websites against Youtube by spreading its videos everywhere except on YouTube. Viacom has a $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement and yanked its videos from the site last year. As Comedy Central’s own Jon Stewart said last night regarding his parent company’s lawsuit against YouTube, “A billion dollars? What are they four-year olds?” I’ve embedded the clip below (which is mostly about the Hollywood writer’s strike) from The Daily Show‘s Website. The comment is about four minutes in: http://www.thedailyshow.com/sitewide/video_player/view/default/swf.jhtml CrunchBase Information DailyMotion Veoh Imeem MeeVee Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
I can remember when OpenHulu launched thinking that the name was nearly false advertising; essentially it provided access to Hulu content away from Hulu, but only to those in the United States. Veoh and MSN have since followed suit and provide Fox and NBC content from Hulu on their sites, but like OpenHulu it still remains IP blocked to those outside of the United States (and possibly Canada). Web based proxies have been around for a long time, but most don’t work with video, and even those that do don’t provide decent enough bandwidth from which to view content from sites such as Hulu. One alternative service that has been in use for business for a long time now are Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). VPN’s offer a secure pipe from where you can access the web, and in turn disguise the location of the user on the end connection. There’s quite a few paid VPN services available, many at reasonable cost ($5-$20/ mth were a few I found on Google) but one service doing the rounds at the moment offers a VPN connection for free. HotSpot Shield is a plugin for Windows or OS X that offers a free VPN service. There is a catch, it rather annoyingly adds a banner ad to the top of every page you visit, but at the ultimate price point of $0 most people will be able to live with it…well, at least whilst getting access to sites that were currently blocked, and the ads can be switched off on each page, but only after they have appeared. Does it work? From Western Australia I’m currently listening to Pandora for the first time since May (still a great service.) Earlier this weekend I caught up with a new Simpsons episode, complete with ads from Hulu, then watched archival footage of the Nixon Resignation just for good measure. The only thing it didn’t work on was Joost which told me I should stop using a proxy…no matter, the blocked stuff is mostly on CBS.com anyway, and yes CBS.com works as well. The speed wasn’t always great, but it was enough to watch video, varying between 600kbps and 1.3mbps on my 2mbps Cable connection. I hesitated in writing this post because the more people who use services such as HotSpot Shield, the more chances we might end up killing them, or worse still Hulu and others → Read More
Just a day after video-sharing site Veoh added a TV tab with shows from Hulu and CBS, Microsoft did the same thing with the launch of a new MSN Video Guide. (This is really just a new user interface to showcase this content). It too has a TV tab with full-length episodes from Hulu (Fox and NBC Universal shows), as well as CBS. Similar to Veoh, the shows range from Battlestar Galactica, CSI, 24, The Office, and The Simpsons to classics like the A-Team and Miami Vice. All the shows can be watched in an embeddable player on MSN Video. It looks like becoming a hyper-aggregator of video is becoming hyper-popular, and won’t necessarily be a point of differentiation. Meanwhile, Hulu’s focus on getting hyper-distribution of its videos on other Websites first, and launching its own public Website second looks to be paying off already. Everyone wants to distribute those NBC and Fox videos. CrunchBase Information Veoh hulu Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Today, video Website Veoh.com is adding more videos from traditional TV networks, including NBC (The A-Team, The Office, Heroes), Fox (The Simpsons, Family Guy, 24), the Sci-Fi Channel (Battlestar Galactica), the USA Network (Monk), and FX (Damages). All of this new content comes from Hulu, the NBC-Fox joint venture. CBS content was already on the site through a previous deal, but now all videos from traditional TV networks can be found under a new “TV Shows” tab on its main page today, which replaces the “Series” tab. (Video series can now be found in the “Channels” tab). Founder Dmitry Shapiro tells me this is part of his strategy to turn Veoh into a “hyper-aggregator” of video on the Web, something he already does with his downloadable client, VeohTV, which can show (and download) Flash video from anywhere on the Web. Now he is embedding video players from other sites, such as Hulu, on Veoh.com proper. Says Shapiro: That is the tip of the strategy—to become the hyper-aggregator. We will continue to provide a breadth of content. Embedding third-party players will be extended to other offerings, including other video-sharing sites. He even plans on adding videos from rivals YouTube and MetaCafe because he thinks the way to survive is to become the one place where people can find videos from allover the Web. Shapiro also shared some internal stats with me. —From November, 2006 to November, 2007 worldwide unique monthly visitors to Veoh.com grew 760 percent from 2.5 million to 21.5 million. (comScore measures 3.5 million in the U.S. and 13.4 million worldwide for November, 2007. Quantcast measures 6.7 million in the U.S., and 18.4 million worldwide). —In November, 2007, Veoh served more than 30 million hours of videos. —The average user watches 80 minutes per month, even with advertising. —VeohTV has 2.5 million active viewers (also, as of November). —Only 40 percent of Veoh’s audience is in the U.S. —40 percent watch during early evening and during prime time (i.e., Veoh is stealing attention away from traditional TV). CrunchBase Information Veoh hulu Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Media search platform provider Pixsy has announced a strategic partnership with video sharing service Veoh Networks that wil see Veoh adopting Pixsy’s media search platform to offer enhanced video and image search functionality on Veoh.com. Pixsy’s appeal to Veoh is the ability to deliver near-real time search results, allowing Veoh users to search videos and images with content updating to the minute. Dmitry Shapiro, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Veoh Networks said “Pixsy’s vast index and ability to organize their breadth of video and image content in a way that maps to our users’ interests will meaningfully enhance the viewing experience on Veoh.” Since taking an additional $26 million in funding back in June, Veoh has seen an increase in traffic whilst facing an increase in lawsuits as well. According to Alexa, Veoh has now broken into the Top 100 sites online, and is edging towards the Top 50. On the other hand their popularity has come at a price, with Veoh being sued by Universal, Viacom and NBC, and perhaps just to keep the lawyers busy, Veoh filed a counter suit against Universal in August. For Pixsy, the deal will see their technology being used by Veoh’s more than 18 million monthly viewers, validation that their search capabilities not only work, but can scale as well. → Read More
After one too many “unreasonable threats”, video site Veoh preemptively sued Universal Music last month in federal court, seeking a declaratory injunction to bar Universal from taking legal action. Now it seems Universal has finally made good on some of those threats. Universal is suing the startup for copyright infringement, using some strong language in an L.A. court hearing today. Universal said, “Veoh follows in the ignominious footsteps of other recent mass infringers such as Napster”. Adding, “Veoh’s rampant infringement will not stop until Veoh, and those who own, control, and run it, are enjoined and held financially responsible”. The suit joins a heap of lawsuits UMG had launched against MySpace, Grouper (Crackle), and Bolt (since deadpooled). Veoh is partly financed by Time Warner and Michael Eisner’s Tornante Co. Update: Veoh CEO Steve Mitgang has delivered an official response: “UMG’s action is not surprising and reflects their limited understanding of Veoh and of the online video space as a whole. Veoh is recognized by many media companies as a DMCA-compliant company and is committed to respecting the rights of content owners. In fact, we’re currently working cooperatively with major media companies and the MPAA to develop standards for copyright protection. It’s unfortunate that UMG prefers to continue their pattern of litigation rather than contribute to the important discussions going on within our industry.” → Read More
Viacom and NBC aren’t content with suing YouTube and other video sites for copyright infringement – they are also trying to inject their opinions into other lawsuits that they are not otherwise involved in. Last week Viacom and NBC petitioned to file a document known as an Amicus Brief in a little known case between Veoh and an online porn site called IO Group. Amicus briefs are a way for people or entities not involved in a given case to let the court know what they think – they are usually filed by those who have some interest in the outcome of a case because it affects their business in some way. Courts often welcome them because they amount to free research and can be used to help them come to a decision. Does this mean Veoh can soon add Viacom and NBC to the growing list of companies they are fighting in court? Probably not. Veoh is fighting to keep the brief out of the court’s hands, but is also making it clear that they don’t want to end up with new litigation with Viacom and NBC. In fact, the two companies continue to negotiate on a distribution deal. Veoh CEO Steve Mitgang says: This is a critical juncture for both service providers and content holders and, ultimately, users. We do not see Viacom’s brief as an indication of lack of interest to work with us; in fact, all of our conversations withthem and other studios have become increasingly positive. That said, we do think this move reflects the importance of our case to the studios and the industry. The cases being litigated now are crucial in determining what level of freedom video sites have in letting their users upload and distribute content. Content owners are not happy with the protections provided under the DMCA – they want video sites to be far more proactive in stopping uploads in the first place. The outcome of these cases will guide how much freedom these video sites have to continue current practices, and ultimately determine the value of these companies down the road. http://static.scribd.com/FlashPaperS3.swf?guid=6nc48m029qzgx&document_id=256948&page=1 → Read More
Perhaps new Veoh CEO Steve Mitgang is the kind of guy you don’t want to try to intimidate. He just called me to say that Universal Music made one too many threats to sue his company. To protect themselves, they are suing Universal Music in federal court and seeking what is known as a declaratory injunction to bar Universal from taking legal action. Given that the lawsuits tend to flow one way against the video startups, this is a major surprise. In the press release, Veoh says they acted based on “unreasonable threats” from Universal and filed the lawsuit under the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA. In a phone call a few minutes ago, Mitgang told me that the two companies met recently, and that Universal made it clear that they would be suing Veoh for copyright infringement in the near future. These kinds of threats are not idle – Universal tends to follow up with actual lawsuits. When a company feels that a lawsuit is imminent, they can strike first to head it off. Since Veoh feels it has protection under the DMCA for its business model, they are striking first. Mitgang also mentioned to me that Universal Music has never sent them a DMCA take down notice of any kind. He says that they would have complied immediately. Story in progress, check back for more. Complaint is below: http://static.scribd.com/FlashPaperS3.swf?guid=blvfsyzunewub&document_id=238437&page=1 → Read More
P2P and web video sharing service Veoh has announced that former Yahoo executive Steve Mitgang has been hired as CEO. Mitgang was formerly a Senior Vice President at Yahoo and led Project Panama, Yahoo’s next generation contextual advertising platform. Veoh closed a $26 million funding round and launched distributed television platform Veoh TV in June. According to the LA Times, Veoh’s founding CEO Dmitry Shapiro has moved to the position of chief innovation officer. → Read More
Joost may be getting a lot of attention lately, but it’s surely not the only new player in the TV-on-the-web game. Veoh claims that, while Joost embraces the old-school channel style of cable TV, their VeohTV service takes it a step further with DVR-like capabilities. VeohTV lets you watch any video on the web, not just channels of pre-selected content, and allows you to record what you want to watch later. Even streaming video. VeohTV is launching in limited beta later this week and will become available to all later this year. I Want My Veoh [Business2.0] → Read More
Veoh’s been busy. In addition to running its popular video sharing site, which is known for higher-quality streams (in terms of bitrate), they’ve announced VeohTV, which is best described as a distributed Joost. The service, which involves, like Joost and Babelgum, downloading new software which becomes a sort of “video browser.” But instead of doing deals with content providers and piping content directly to users, VeohTV is letting users pull content from around the web – a “single interface to search, browse and view all video on the Internet.” Accepting that IPTV will be decentralized is the same theme driving Truveo’s success, AOL’s video search tool. Basically, if its out there on the Internet, and Veoh can pull it in, you can watch it. Veoh says this is great for video sites, since they can continue to embed advertising, etc with the content. Will it work? It certainly might. I’ll have to wait and try out the software first. But the vision is solid. This avoids the time and cost of doing licensing deals with content owners. Like Real’s new player that allows users to basically bookmark and locally store video, it assumes that video will continue to be widely distributed across the Internet. Whoever creates the best interface for the content will win users, and liquidity events. This also spells eventual trouble for online TV guides like Meevee (not to single them out). If people have a tv and its hooked up to a computer, as more and more people do, they’ll eventually expect video on demand from the Internet. The online TV guides weren’t able to figure out how to bring this content to them, and now services like Veoh, Joost, Babelgum and others have just done an end-around. Meanwhile, don’t forget the social aspect of watching TV, and how the Internet can help facilitate that. BuddyTV is a service to keep an eye on. No IPTV, but lots of chatting going on during shows from loyal users. See Erick Schonfeld for his take. More screenshots below. → Read More
P2P and web video sharing service Veoh has taken $26million in Round C funding. The new money takes total investment in Veoh to $41.25million. The pre money valuation is rumored to be between $60 million and $70 million. The company has Michael Eisner on its Board, content deals with companies like Us Magazine and United Talent Agency and as Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote in February, some very good looking technology. According to PEHub, Goldman Sachs led the round, with earlier investors Spark Capital and Shelter Capital Partners also increasing their investment. Veoh differs from other social video sites by focusing on syndication and video quality. They have a desktop peer-to-peer based video player for playing back longer content at higher quality. For publishers, Veoh allows uploads of any size or quality and automatically syndicates them out to YouTube, MySpace, and Google Video in the appropriate format. Like Metacafe and Revver, publishers can also make money off of their content. However, unlike those competitors, Veoh allows publishers to directly charge viewers for content in a 50-50 split with the company. In January, Veoh’s founder, Dmitry Shapiro, told Beet.tv they had 4 million unique users. It’s a lot of money, although in perspective Veoh has snuck up to being just shy of joining the top 200 sites online according to Alexa. There may never be a second YouTube but Veoh is a giving it a really good shot. Check out Veoh’s Profile → Read More
YouTube is clearly the most popular video sharing site on the web. But limits on video length, DMCA takedown notices and billion dollar lawsuits have damaged YouTube’s ability to facilitate serious copyright infringement. The smaller guys are now stepping in to fill the void. Full length copies of well known TV shows and/or movies are readily available on a number of YouTube competitors. Watch, for example, The Office on DailyMotion, Scrubs on GoFish, or SouthPark on Veoh (update: GoFish and Veoh have apparently removed the shows I linked to). And if searching for the shows on these sites is just too much work, there are other sites that aggregate and organize this content, and embed it on their own sites. Watch any episode from any of the 11 seasons of SouthPark on Allsp.com. And new site VideoHybrid is in a class of its own, with dozens of full length movies and virtually every popular TV show. VideoHybrid even gives statistics showing exactly how many times copyrights have been violated. Its not clear if the MPAA and networks just aren’t focusing on these smaller video sharing sites yet, or if DMCA notices are simply being ignored. These sites aren’t hiding out and trying to evade the law – they’re funded by well known venture capitalists and, in Veoh’s case, copyright holders. And GoFish is actually a public company. → Read More
P2P and web video sharing service Veoh will relaunch Tuesday with some important new features and a new look. Cynics looking for interesting video sites post-GooTube will find Veoh of real interest. The company has Michael Eisner on its Board, content deals with companies like Us Magazine and United Talent Agency and most important – some very good looking technology. Starting this week, all users of Veoh will be offered video recommendations using an algorithm developed by Ted Dunning, developer of MusicMatch (now Yahoo!Music). Pro users can charge viewers to rent or own DVD quality videos downloaded through the P2P Veoh player. Pro users can have their videos automatically cross-posted to YouTube, Google Video and MySpace Video and automatically transcoded to QuickTime for iPod viewing. Pro users will receive reports on the number of views and comments their videos have recieved across YouTube, Google Video and MySpace Video. This is likely to become a popular service; the viral video trackers at VidMeter will launch a similar service across 13 sites next week. Other new features will include a very nice multi-video embeddable player. The functionality isn’t as flexible as a number of other companies’ offerings but it looks great. Users can display their favorites or other channels they’ve subscribed to. http://www.veoh.com/seriesplayer_embedded.swf?inVeoh=false&type=uf&id=&user=marshallk&player=favorites Perhaps the biggest part of the relaunch will be the P2P Veoh Player. It will support full length downloads from Veoh, torrents, video sites around the web and any RSS feeds. A new browser bookmarklet will let you download videos from any site. The company highlights YouTube, Metacafe and others – presumably there’s some transcoding going on. The Veoh player can also be connected to your TV and controlled by remote. It’s like Joost for User Generated Content as well as select content partners. All in all, it’s a very impressive relaunch. Presuming that users are willing to download the P2P application to their desktops, Veoh could end up seeing very wide use. If it does well in ease of use (and it looks like it does) it could fit the bill as a top-notch one-stop video service. → Read More
Three online video startups announced a partnership this morning that will allow users to edit their videos on Eyespot and publish with a single click to Blip.tv and Veoh. This sounds like a smart move for all involved as editing and remixing ups the ante on features for video sharing. Partnering with another startup already providing the service may make more sense that building it into an existing feature set. Hopefully the partnership will mean a deep integration between Eyespot and the other companies; more than a distribution partnership, a technology partnership would be really interesting. New York City’s Blip.tv was selected to provide the underlying technology for CNN’s user generated video section, CNN Exchange, launched last month. San Diego based Veoh provides 10 minute flash previews of long videos that can be downloaded in their full length through the company’s peer to peer desktop client. The company announced an undisclosed amount of funding from Shelter Capital Partners last week and has also received funds from Spark Catial, the Torante Company and Time Warner. San Diego’s Eyespot allows drag and drop video editing online and positions its site as a community for remixing videos uploaded for that purpose. Competitor JumpCut offers similar functionality and has a small promotional partnership with Fox Atomic, an arm of Twentieth Century Fox. The company has received angel funding from Michael Robertson, the man behind MP3.com, Gizmo Project, Ajax Launch and countless other projects. Eyespot currently limits file upload to 50 MB and it will be interesting to see if when these partnerships take form that limit is lifted for Blip and Veoh users. The prospect of contributors to CNN’s Exchange being able to quickly edit their submissions before submitting them is interesting, though CNN may be more interested in unedited footage. This is a smart move that will help each of these companies offer a fundamentally compelling feature that the big sites simply hosting video do not. → Read More
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