Internet video distributor Brightcove Networks is expected to unveil a Web hub today (Oct. 30), which features programming supplied by a variety of major media companies, ranging from MTV Networks to independent producers.
The beta site, launched at Brightcove.com, will contain a new video search engine capable of returning thousands of clips available on the Internet, including those available on major Web sites such as AOL.com and YouTube.com, the latter of which is merging with Google.
While Brightcove rival YouTube allows Web surfers to sort videos by date or according to the number of times other users have viewed particular clips, Brightcove's consumer site will contain a “buzz index.” That index will rank videos by a formula that combines the number of views, how frequently clips are shared with other Web surfers and “what the attention span is to that media,” Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire said.
Brightcove will feature video from several large and small media companies on its Web site, including National Geographic Channel, MTV Networks' TV Land, Independent Film Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, British Sky Broadcasting, Oxygen, TMZ.com, The New York Times, Reuters, About.com and Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Brightcove also plans to launch a new advertising network called Brightcove AdNet on Monday that will allow both large and small video producers to drive ad revenue from Internet video. Allaire said Brightcove will offer to sell the advertising inventory, and give 50% of the revenue to the content owner.
The company also is rolling out a “pay-media service” that allows content owners to sell video clips via the Internet for fees, with a $0.99 minimum. And through a deal previously announced with America Online, Brightcove said it will now allow video producers to distribute pay video clips through AOL.com.
“You [content owners] can check a box. It gets syndicated to AOL Video. [Users] can find it, purchase it and download it,” Allaire said.
Some media companies, however, continue to distribute video on the Internet on their own, choosing not to partner with distributors such as Brightcove.
Fox News Channel, for instance, is rolling out a new “Fox News Flash” product this week in which it will distribute two 60-second clips daily on Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store, News Corp. sister MySpace.com and Cingular Wireless mobile phones.
The video clips, one from its Fox & Friends morning show and a second from Fox Report With Shepard Smith, are available for free.
The network plans to distribute one-minute clips from other shows on its schedule.
