Two online video sites I've written about several times here at C3 are Veoh and Brightcove, and both made new announcements this past week regarding an expansion of content, in Veoh's case, and significant new funding for Brightcove.
Veoh has formed a partnership with Us Weekly magazine to create an online celebrity news and entertainment show that will be available on the Us Web site and Veoh's site as well. The initiative will launch in February with the intent of also including user-generated content.
For another look at a broadband celebrity destination, see my November post, "The Death of a Buzzword: Synergy and Time Warner". At the time, I wrote about TMZ, the Three Mile Zone product being launched by Warner Brothers and AOL. At the time, I wrote:
But, while TMZ is not my cup of tea, I think that it touches on the ability of the Web to do something others don't and to prove that synergistic relationships, even as that buzzword has gotten a negative connotation, are the building blocks of convergence and transmedia approaches. The success of this site shows that there is still power in these types of partnerships. The problem is in the thinking that they work irrespective to how they are executed.
It will be interesting to see how this Veoh/Us product compares to the TMZ project.
Meanwhile, Veoh has also partnered with the United Talent Agency to create "an online resource for digital content submissions," according to Daisy Whitney with TelevisionWeek.
Last month, Veoh revamped their site. I wrote, "With the new version of the site, content providers can even charge rental fees to those who access the online video, as well as download-to-own. Further, all the content will now be viewed on a substantially larger player. The site also provides new ways to navigate the content. Users can mark content as favorites or make recommendations, or content can be searched through for a particular person or a particular series." And we've also written in the past about Veoh's deal with TNT, promoting content for TNT and in return getting access to content from the TNT library.
Meanwhile, Brightcove has secured almost $60 million in additional funding, by providing a venue through which television networks and other content providers can syndicate their content or produce full broadband channels for distribution.
According to Whitney, "New investors in this round include AllianceBernstein, Brookside Capital, Maverick Capital, The New York Times Co. and Transcosmos."
Just a few days ago, we wrote about Brightcove's deal with the distributors of Da Vinci's Inquest, in which they are launching a new broadband video product for affiliates airing the show. I wrote, "The process is all part of finding ways to redefine the syndicator/affiliate relationship, in light of the potential for new revenue streams by expanding the relationship beyond just airing a show in the broadcast lineup."
We also wrote about Brightcove's partnership with Warner Music Group to distribute music videos online back in October.
