How Brightcove is building a platform for video

After years of hit or miss, video on the web has finally hit the mainstream. YouTube showed how successful video could be when you make it easy for people to access. It's $1.65 billion acquisition by Google was vindication of video as a business and even before the sale, small players were flocking to the space bringing their own unique take on what web video should be. Some of them were simply YouTube rip-offs, but others such as Gotuit and Jumpcut took different approaches. Gotuit served the niche market of music videos and sports/news highlights. JumpCut stepped higher on the value chain and offered content creators a way to edit their videos right on the web. Brightcove went in a new direction.

From the very start, Brightcove has been a more structured presence for video on the web. While they recently released a section for anyone to upload their own content, the real goal of Brightcove has been to help content providers build web media properties. They are working with partners like Dow Jones and TMZ.com to help them build a consistent presence on the web. If YouTube is a pioneer in the wild west of web video then Brightcove is very much the railroad - bringing the first traces of civilization and changing the landscape.

Brightcove likes to describe itself as TV for the web, and the moniker isn't far from the truth. They work with partners to create "channels" and then promote those channels through their advertising community. The beauty of Brightcove is that independent content creators can produce a show and then use Brightcove's advertising platform to monetize it. This isn't meant for one-off videos of your friend doing backwards summersaults into a pool of jello, but rather people who are interested in producing weekly shows and building an audience. The number of these on YouTube is astounding and as Brightcove grows, some of those people will undoubtedly move over so that they can make money off of their ideas with Brightcove's more robust platform. It doesn't take much to get started with Brightcove, and you don't need to partner with Brightcove or sell your soul. They've worked very hard on an application built in Adobe Flex that makes it easy to manage videos and get your content out there.

The thing that impresses me most about Brightcove is the way they use Rich Internet Application (RIA) technologies to provide a great user experience. Flash video is the standard, but for providers that require a DRM solution they use Windows Media Format. This also gives Brightcove traction on Windows Media Center, something that Brightcove thinks is going to be increasingly common amongst viewers. The web application which content providers use to manage their videos and channels is built using Adobe's Flex which provides a rich sandbox. This makes it easy for those content providers to keep a handle on things from anywhere in the world. It would be neat to see a mobile version that would give them the same control.

We are already seeing a convergence of the PC and the living room. The "living room wars" have almost become a cliché as Sony, Microsoft and others are spending millions of dollars for living room superiority. And while companies fight over Blu-Ray versus HDDVD, downloading high definition videos has become more of a possibility thanks to an ever-increasing broadband presence. Brightcove is well positioned to show how easy that could be because of the way they use RIAs. The people I talked to at Brightcove said they have no plans to get into video, but they have thought about delivering their channels in HD for consumption in the living room. Because they have amassed some big time Flash talent, it is also possible they could move into the mobile space and use Flash Lite to distribute content. Video on mobile devices is currently a very bad experience and while it doesn't sound like Brightcove will be a first-mover, if the right solution comes along, Brightcove will be ready to go.

Jeremy Allaire has a history of successes. He sold his first company, Allaire, to Macromedia and he has been working hard to make Brightcove a big player in the world of web video. By signing up some big name partners and taking a different approach, they are starting on the right path. People are getting more and more used to consuming video on the web, the next step is going to be more consistent shows that they can tune into or subscribe to and come out on a regular basis. Brightcove has the tools for both users and distributers to get started quickly. That edge will be valuable as their niche becomes more crowded.