Who needs Brightcove? VMIX video gets sexy

Creative is sexy these days, for everyone. So proclaims VMIX.Dubbed the “Free video sharing and hosting community,” VMIX sounds like the latest, but certainly not last, valiant attempt to unseat Google’s almighty YouTube. VMIX, however, has set its competitive sights on a different online video leader, Brightcove. 

How does VMIX plan on going against $83 million power funded worldwide player Brightcove?

The old fashioned way, by exploiting industry smarts and driving hands-on dedication.

Over lunch last week in New York City, Terry Ash, VMIX co-founder and executive vice president, shared with me his game plan for building VMIX for the long haul.

Ash is an 18 year broadcast industry veteran and seasoned Internet entrepreneur. Formerly Executive Vice President for the Vivendi-Universal Internet Group in North America, he oversaw over $250 million in revenue from major brands including MP3.com, Rollingstone.com and Emusic.
He also acted as Senior Vice President of Advertising Sales for MP3.com, focusing on developing corporate sponsorships and original programming for radio and TV syndication eventually leading into the sale of MP3.com to Vivendi-Universal.

Ash leveraged his deep knowledge of broadcasters’ business development objectives online in formulating the VMIX concept, he told me.

Similar to the Brightcove business model, VMIX has a two-prong video strategy: 1) Technology platform for white labeling license to third-party media properties and 2) Destination community hub for video sharing.

The core VMIX value proposition is a “one-stop shop” offer, Ash underscored:

"We empower entertainment, broadcast, publishing, media, music, corporate and creative companies with a single-vendor solution to engage audiences via high-quality, scalable and flexible rich media management and community platforms."

MEDIA MANAGEMENT PLATFORM

Upload Manageer: For proprietary media and user- generated content. Upload video, audio, and images.

Media Encoder: Automatically encode raw media file and retain a high definition master file, keeping both accessible in library.

Media Libray: Access all media in one central location. Edit metadata and sharing rights. Publish and assign media to Channels, Media Groups and Playlists.

Flash Player: Tailor a Flash media player by size, advertising, channel and viewing requirements for custom branding and design.

Media Approval: All user-generated media is reviewed by trained VMIX staff to protect from the risk of copyright violations, and to screen out offensive material.

API: Maintain control of media presentation and associated metadata with a fully-documented API library.

COMMUNITY PLATFORM 

Member Database Integration: Architected to integrate with existing member system or unique identifier system (any object, blog, piece of content).

Ratings: Feedback in the form of 1 to 5 stars, thumbs up/thumbs down, or any of a variety of ratings. Apply to videos, product/entertainment reviews, news content or blog posts.

Comments: Member commenting on any content on Website including video, articles, blogs. Customizable content review thresholds and keyword screening parameters.

Blogs: Hosted application with customizable templates, or APIs. 

Recent media properties “empowered” by VMIX technology: Warner Bros, Fox Searchlight Pictures, The Chicago Tribune…  

San Diego-based VMIX launched a little more than a year ago and is about 50 people strong today. The company recently closed on its second round of funding from Mission Ventures and Enterprise Partners.

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