Online Video: Tasty Takeover Targets?
Sony's deal for Grouper signals that big outfits are looking to buy in. Which video-sharing sites might be next?
Online video sites are a bit like fish in the sea. Though they are plentiful, the tastiest ones are difficult to catch. So Sony Pictures Entertainment (SNE) may have made a good strategic grab Aug. 23 when it hooked online video site Grouper for $65 million. Sony may have acted partially in self-defense, since other major media companies may soon be trawling for online video companies of their own.
Online video's rapid growth must appear tantalizing to players in the mature, slow-growing media sector. Audiences and advertising dollars are flooding the Internet. This year, Internet advertising will jump 30% to $16 billion, according to estimates by New York research firm eMarketer. By 2009, the company predicts advertisers will spend $26.6 billion online. About $1.5 billion of that amount will go to Internet video advertising, the kind the Web video sites specialize in.
As one of the most popular video sites on the Web, Grouper was a shiny target for Sony. It had 542,000 unique U.S. visitors in July, according to comScore, not counting the videos Grouper shows through partnerships with popular social networking sites such as Friendster and News Corp.'s MySpace (NWS).
Who will catch the wave? We can't know for sure. But in this Five for the Money, we'll look at the private online video outfits that have proven themselves good swimmers—and that might be acquisition targets for big publicly traded media companies surfing the Web for new audiences and revenue streams.
YouTube
Acquisition rumors frequently surround this company because it seems too hot to be ignored. The most popular user-generated video site, YouTube had more than 16 million unique U.S. visitors in July alone, according to comScore, and streams more than 100 million videos a day (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/14/06, "YouTube: 100 Million Videos a Day").
Guba
Guba CEO Tom McInerney says the company would be open to acquisition. The site already has distribution deals with Warner Bros. and Sony to sell and rent their videos, and McInerney said they are speaking with other companies about partnerships and possible acquisition. "It is easier for these companies to buy it than it is to try and build it," he says. "And it's clear that online is where people are spending their time."
Blinkx
Blinkx differs from the user-generated sites in that it concentrates on video search and related technology. Its site is one of the largest video search engines.
Veoh
Veoh Networks is not only one of the most popular video sites on the Web, it's also backed by heavy media hitters. Michael Eisner, the former chairman and CEO of Disney, joined the company's board of directors in April. It also counts Time Warner and Spark Capital as investors.
Metacafe
Metacafe was founded in July, 2003, and has since become one of the most heavily trafficked video sites worldwide. The Palo Alto (Calif.) company has more than 20 million unique visitors and streams more than 450 million videos each month. According to comScore, it had nearly 2 million uniques in July alone, placing it in the top 10 in the U.S.
Source: BusinessWeek Online
Online video sites are a bit like fish in the sea. Though they are plentiful, the tastiest ones are difficult to catch. So Sony Pictures Entertainment (SNE) may have made a good strategic grab Aug. 23 when it hooked online video site Grouper for $65 million. Sony may have acted partially in self-defense, since other major media companies may soon be trawling for online video companies of their own.
Online video's rapid growth must appear tantalizing to players in the mature, slow-growing media sector. Audiences and advertising dollars are flooding the Internet. This year, Internet advertising will jump 30% to $16 billion, according to estimates by New York research firm eMarketer. By 2009, the company predicts advertisers will spend $26.6 billion online. About $1.5 billion of that amount will go to Internet video advertising, the kind the Web video sites specialize in.
As one of the most popular video sites on the Web, Grouper was a shiny target for Sony. It had 542,000 unique U.S. visitors in July, according to comScore, not counting the videos Grouper shows through partnerships with popular social networking sites such as Friendster and News Corp.'s MySpace (NWS).
Who will catch the wave? We can't know for sure. But in this Five for the Money, we'll look at the private online video outfits that have proven themselves good swimmers—and that might be acquisition targets for big publicly traded media companies surfing the Web for new audiences and revenue streams.
YouTube
Acquisition rumors frequently surround this company because it seems too hot to be ignored. The most popular user-generated video site, YouTube had more than 16 million unique U.S. visitors in July alone, according to comScore, and streams more than 100 million videos a day (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/14/06, "YouTube: 100 Million Videos a Day").
Guba
Guba CEO Tom McInerney says the company would be open to acquisition. The site already has distribution deals with Warner Bros. and Sony to sell and rent their videos, and McInerney said they are speaking with other companies about partnerships and possible acquisition. "It is easier for these companies to buy it than it is to try and build it," he says. "And it's clear that online is where people are spending their time."
Blinkx
Blinkx differs from the user-generated sites in that it concentrates on video search and related technology. Its site is one of the largest video search engines.
Veoh
Veoh Networks is not only one of the most popular video sites on the Web, it's also backed by heavy media hitters. Michael Eisner, the former chairman and CEO of Disney, joined the company's board of directors in April. It also counts Time Warner and Spark Capital as investors.
Metacafe
Metacafe was founded in July, 2003, and has since become one of the most heavily trafficked video sites worldwide. The Palo Alto (Calif.) company has more than 20 million unique visitors and streams more than 450 million videos each month. According to comScore, it had nearly 2 million uniques in July alone, placing it in the top 10 in the U.S.
Source: BusinessWeek Online
mystro - 28. Aug, 00:01