Web video distribution player Brightcove is entering the Japanese market with a new subsidiary called Brightcove K.K. Rather than use some of the $86 million it has already raised, Brightcove sold off a piece of the subsidiary for $4.9 million to Japanese investors, some of whom will also act as sales and distribution partners. Participating in the round are Dentsu (biggest advertising company in Japan), J-Stream (biggest content delivery network in Japan), Cyber Communications (biggest online ad network in Japan), and existing Brightcove investor Transcosmos (Japanese media conglomerate).
Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire says in an e-mail:
Japan is an outstanding market for Brightcove, with exceptionally high broadband penetration rates and the 2nd largest media market in the world. Amazing, online video (commercial, monetized online video) in Japan is a nascent industry
We have majority ownership and control over this subsidiary, and will be hiring a general manager as well as a staff of technical, sales, marketing and operational staff to build the business.
However, Brightcove K.K. also has several significant strategic partners who are collectively investing about $5M into Brightcove KK, and who are also going to act as sales and marketing agents for Brightcove in Japan. We don’t plan to build a lot of direct selling infrastructure in Japan, instead leveraging the robust sales teams and customer footprints of our partners.
J-Stream will be offering Brightcove video streaming as a service to its customers, while Dentsu and Cyber Communications will be selling ads across the Brightcove K.K. network.