Video Distribution Startup VHX Is Now Building Apps For Phones, Tablets And Internet-Connected TVs

VHX, a startup that helps customers sell videos online, is taking a big leap into mobile, with new capabilities for publishers to launch their own custom apps.

While the startup is officially announcing those capabilities today, as part of its presence at the Consumer Electronics Show, it actually released its first apps back in November. By creating Apple TV apps for Black&SexyTV and Yoga With Adriene, Head of Product Casey Pugh said VHX could “give people a little sneak peek” and also take advantage of the excitement around the new Apple TV.

VHX previously offered mobile access to video content through the VHX app, but now publishers can include the VHX-powered content in apps of their own. CEO Jamie Wilkinson said that’s particularly important if a business wants to move to a subscription model — most publishers using VHX currently offer their content transactionally (you buy  one video at a time), but for the ones that have a significant library of content, he suggested that subscriptions are “sort of an inevitable user experience optimization.”

Think of how much Netflix you (and the rest of the Internet) watch. Of course, building Netflix’s video library is no easy task, but Wilkinson suggested that a subscription model, or one that combines subscriptions with transactional purchases, can work for more niche sites, too. For example, there’s the subscription growth of anime service Crunchyroll and the acquisition of international video site DramaFever.

VHX says it will handle the entire development process, and the apps will work on devices including Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, Android, Roku and Chromecast.

CES 2016