http://www.tvweek.com/ en-us Copyright 2008 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:00:00 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The player: Benjamin Wayne, CEO and founder of Fliqz, a private-label online video solution. The play: Fliqz provides the tools for companies to quickly integrate video into their Web sites. Fliqz offers a video player, software to ingest the video, transcoding and encoding, ad serving and management and sharing features. The player isn’t branded, which allows customers to provide a white-label experience for users. The pitch: Fliqz is marketing the simplicity of its offering, Mr. Wayne said. “We have tools that can be deployed in 30 minutes or less, as opposed to 30 to 45 days,” he said. “It’s very cost-effective and it’s completely white-label, so it can match your look and feel.” In the mix: Fliqz customers include Autobytel, Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, T-Mobile, the Mill Valley Film Festival and VH1. Major League Baseball used the service for a Baby Ruth-sponsored contest to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Fliqz competes with online TV platforms such as Brightcove as well as other private-label solutions, such as Twistage. Fliqz has about 18,000 customers. The backstory: Mr. Wayne founded the company in 2005 in Emeryville, Calif. The money guys: Fliqz raised about $6.5 million in venture funding from Mohr Davidow Ventures. Customers pay for services, with monthly fees ranging from about $100 to a few thousand dollars. Mr. Wayne expects to achieve profitability in a year. The pros: Small and large businesses alike are recognizing that video is a must-have for a Web site. “In the next two years every site will figure out video needs to be a part of their offering, and most aren’t going to do it themselves,” Mr. Wayne said. The cons: Competition is stiff in the online technology business, with competitors including Brightcove, Magnify, Twistage, Permission TV, thePlatform and Maven. Also, monetization models for online video have not fully crystallized yet. Background: Mr. Wayne was born and raised in Santa Barbara, Calif. He earned an architecture degree from Princeton and an MBA from Harvard. He previously served as president and CEO of Collabrys, a provider of outsourced services, and Smartshop.com, an online comparison shopping portal. He lives in Oakland, Calif. Who knew? Mr. Wayne spent four years living in Southeast Asia and speaks Korean. He went to South Korea on a Fulbright grant and also owned a business there.]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/07/benjamin_wayne_ceo_and_founder.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/07/benjamin_wayne_ceo_and_founder.php Benjamin Wayne Fliqz Print Edition Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:00:00 -0800 The player: Perry Wu, CEO of BitGravity The play: BitGravity is a high-end content delivery network for Internet video that routes high-quality media around the Internet. “We call it interactive broadcast, and what we do is make that possible,” Mr. Wu said. BitGravity operates behind the scenes to deliver media across the Web. As the Internet grows crowded with video, the ability to route video quickly and easily rises in importance. The pitch: Mr. Wu said the company’s special sauce is delivering video immediately at a high quality and low price. In the mix: BitGravity competes against companies such as Move Networks and Edgecast. BitGravity clients include Tom Green, who broadcasts live on the Internet at www.tomgreen.com, as well as Getty Images, InterActiveCorp, Sling Media and Revision3, the online television network. Revision3 uses BitGravity to deliver shows such as “Diggnation” and “Tekzilla” to iTunes, Blip.tv, Hulu and other sites that carry its shows. “We are like a service bureau for these content companies,” Mr. Wu said. “We’re the zip in the video. We make it look good, play well, play instantaneously, play at high quality, so they don’t have to worry about that stuff.” BitGravity expects to make deals in the coming months for media, sports and music on the Web. The backstory: Mr. Wu founded the company two years ago in Burlingame, Calif. YouTube was an early customer before it was bought by Google. The money guys: Mr. Wu and private investors put an undisclosed amount of seed money in the company. BitGravity has been profitable from the beginning and is aiming to expand worldwide later this year. BitGravity makes money by charging a delivery fee for content. The pros: As content providers migrate to high-definition and other high-quality video online, BitGravity is well-positioned to seize that business. The cons: BitGravity likely will face powerful competitors in companies like IBM and possibly Google. Background: Mr. Wu was born in Castro Valley, Calif., and raised in San Jose. He earned an undergraduate degree from Stanford and an MBA from Harvard. Prior to BitGravity, Mr. Wu was a general partner at ComVentures; he also was a venture capitalist with Accel Partners and Bedrock Capital. He lives in Burlingame with his wife and three daughters. Who knew? Mr. Wu attended a high school in San Jose with a reputation for being one of the most stressful high schools in the country, but he finished as the valedictorian, held state records in swimming and went on to play varsity water polo at Stanford. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/06/perry_wu_ceo_of_bitgravity.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/06/perry_wu_ceo_of_bitgravity.php Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:50:05 -0800 The player: Shoba Purushothaman, CEO of the NewsMarket, an online video marketplace for news content The play: The NewsMarket is a Web-based service that supplies video from companies, news organizations, non-profits, institutions and agencies to broadcast and online news outlets and bloggers. The video is primarily in B-roll form so news sources can integrate the footage into their reports. The pitch: The NewsMarket focuses on providing B-roll, rather than video news releases, so news desks can use the footage however they want. The video is delivered in high-quality over broadband. The service includes a search engine so users can search for content. The NewsMarket also provides recommendations of videos based on the user’s interest. “That wasn’t possible in the traditional world of sending out a tape,” Ms. Purushothaman said. In the mix: The NewsMarket aggregates video from a variety of providers, including non-profits like Unicef, Greenpeace and the Gates Foundation, corporations like IBM and Microsoft and government agencies like the National Cancer Institute or National Science Foundation. As an example, earlier this month IBM was involved in the creation of the world’s largest supercomputer and provided that video to the NewsMarket to funnel to news outlets. “There is quite a lot of media interest in content like that and it’s not the kind of video a newsroom can easily get access to, but it’s major milestone in technology achievement,” Ms. Purushothaman said. The end users of NewsMarket videos are news organizations like CNN, BBC and Bloomberg and online newsrooms. About 50% of the NewsMarket users are the online editions of newspapers and magazines, such as the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and Business Week. The backstory: The company launched in 2003 with about $1 million in funding from friends and angels. The money guys: The NewsMarket landed an additional $19 million from Softbank Capital, Ascend Ventures and Hearst. The company has been profitable at various points, though is not currently because it’s launching new products. The NewsMarket projects steady profitability by the end of the year. The company makes money via a subscription fee that customers pay for the NewsMarket to host and deliver their videos and via a commission from media companies that sell stock footage video using the service. The pros: Newsrooms have scaled back staff and resources, but consumers demand news and information at a rapid rate because of the 24/7 nature of the Internet. Also, as newspapers increase their video offerings online, they often need outside services like the NewsMarket for B-roll. The cons: Online video is still a new phenomenon and can require a lot of education. Background: Ms. Purushothaman was born and raised in Malaysia. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Monash University in Australia and a master’s degree from American University. She worked as a business journalist for nine years at the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswire. She founded a broadcast public relations consultancy before starting the NewsMarket. She lives in New York. Who knew? Ms. Purushothaman describes herself as an obsessive cook. “Sometimes when I am traveling and in a hotel and can’t go to sleep, I will browse recipes and think about how I could cook this or that.” ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/06/shoba_purushothaman_ceo_of_the.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/06/shoba_purushothaman_ceo_of_the.php Print Edition Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:58:21 -0800 The player: Justin Chapweske, founder and CEO of Swarmcast, a video delivery network that routes high-definition content across the Internet. The play: Swarmcast is angling to be the mover of bits and bytes for media companies online as they seek to deliver increasingly high-quality video on the Web. Swarmcast provides technology to media companies, sports leagues, concert promoters and others who stream content on the Web, with a focus on long-form content. The pitch: “We provide the services to make it possible to watch a high-quality video with a fantastic viewing experience and watch it for hours if you want without any interruption,” Mr. Chapweske said. “We let you deliver hi-def online and cheaper.” The Swarmcast service does that by adjusting to changing network conditions to maximize video quality for a user’s computer, he said. By focusing on providing a better user experience, Swarmcast has been able to increase viewing times for its customers from 20 minutes at a time to 60 minutes for sporting events online. That gives a content provider more opportunities to sell ads and wring revenue from Web video. In the mix: Swarmcast customers include iClips.net, which streams major concerts and events online such as the World AIDS Day Concert and Major League Baseball games. Swarmcast expects to announce deals with TV networks around the world shortly, as well as with additional sports customers and music video providers. Competitors include Move Networks, which also focuses on delivery of high-quality video content online. The money guys: Mr. Chapweske bootstrapped the company for the first five years and then raised a round of $10 million in venture funding two years ago from Bridge Capital Fund and Nippon Venture Capital. Swarmcast is paid a bandwidth fee for delivering content. Mr. Chapweske declined to provide a time frame for profitability. Backstory: Mr. Chapweske launched the company in 2000 with a focus on video delivery for enterprises. He expanded the company three years ago to include online video as that market started to develop. The pros: Swarmcast can decrease bandwidth costs for its customers by 20% almost immediately, Mr. Chapweske said. The cons: Bandwidth delivery, even at high-quality, is a commodity business. Background: Mr. Chapweske was born in Williston, N.D. and raised in that state. He attended the University of Minnesota and studied computer science. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and daughter. He is 29. Who knew? Mr. Chapweske has been training in mixed martial arts for 15 years.]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/06/justin_chapweske_founder_and_c.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/06/justin_chapweske_founder_and_c.php Digital Dealmakers Print Edition Swarmcast Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:58:05 -0800 The player: Brett Wilson, co-founder and CEO of TubeMogul. The play: TubeMogul is an online video services company that provides one-stop upload and tracking services to 16 video sites. TubeMogul also offers demographics and data on online video usage, such as views, comments, ratings and links. The pitch: Successful video creators usually need to distribute their videos on several video-sharing sites, such as YouTube, MySpace, Viddler and Blip.tv. But uploading videos to all those sites requires time and resources. With TubeMogul, creators upload video once, then choose which sites they want TubeMogul to send their videos to. TubeMogul also works with media companies and provides more detailed analytics on their videos. In the mix: More than 25,000 video creators use TubeMogul’s basic service. TubeMogul’s 50 premium clients include CBS Interactive, Next New Networks, Tornante and PBS. CBS uses it to deploy Web series “Moblogic” and “Wallstrip,” for instance. The backstory: The company launched in 2007 with a focus on tracking video views across multiple sites for creators. The company broadened its focus recently to include distribution and upload services. “We look at ourselves as a company that solves problems for creators, and we learned distribution was a huge pain point for people,” Mr. Wilson said. The money guys: The basic service is free to use. TubeMogul makes money by selling premium products to larger media companies and marketing agencies. A premium subscription starts at $500 and includes more detailed demographic and geographic information on when, where and how often the videos are watched. For instance, the Keyword Intelligence tool tracks videos that include a specific word or phrase in the video’s title, keywords or description. TubeMogul raised an angel round of funding last year of less than $1 million and earlier this year raised about $1.5 million from Knightsbridge Capital Partners. The pros: Creators who use the service have seen increases in viewership of up to four times. “If you have an audience somewhere you don’t know about, you might try it,” Mr. Wilson said. The cons: Competition from firms such as Visible Measures to provide online data is increasing. Background: Mr. Wilson was born in Chicago and raised in Chicago and Green Bay, Wis. He has a bachelor’s degree from California State University at Chico and an MBA from UC Berkeley. Previously, he founded online retail site YouCanSave.com and sold that company. Mr. Wilson, 34, is married with two children and lives in Alameda, Calif. Who knew? Mr. Wilson is ranked No. 1 in the TubeMogul foosball rankings. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/06/brett_wilson_cofounder_and_ceo.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/06/brett_wilson_cofounder_and_ceo.php Digital Dealmakers TubeMogul Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:50:24 -0800 The player: Wil Schroter, CEO of Gotcast, an online job board for casting television and Web video appearances. The play: Gotcast.com is a service akin to Monster.com, but for on-air appearances. It operates as a sort of nationwide casting call for reality stars, game show contestants and experts. Show creators can post the casting information on Gotcast.com to reach out to talent across the country. Gotcast is based in Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio, and assists with casting for broadcast and cable networks. “If G4 needs a new gamer girl, we will go to gamer blogs, gamer communities, YouTube,” Mr. Schroter said. In the mix: Gotcast has helped find talent for MTV, VH1, E!, HDNet, YoungHollywood.com and others. Most recently, Gotcast helped place Andrea Rene with E! News to cover pop culture news. Mr. Schroter said he also works with traditional casting directors to supplements their work. “We are looking for all the people that may be harder to find and aren’t necessarily represented by an agent,” he said. “We are a service to find talent.” GotCast.com currently casts for every major network, including NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox, for shows such as “The Bachelor,” “Wife Swap,” “America’s Got Talent,” “Big Brother” and “The Millionaire Matchmaker,” Mr. Schroter said. Backstory: Gotcast launched in October. Mr. Schroter works closely with Alec Shankman, a talent agent with Abrams Artists in Los Angeles, on fine-tuning the service. Mr. Shankman said the demand for “non-Hollywood” talent such as experts and reality show contestants is driving the need for a service like Gotcast.com. The money guys: Mr. Schroter put $500,000 of his own money into Gotcast, while NCT Ventures put another $500,000 into the company. Gotcast makes money through ads and via a monthly subscription. That subscription gives talent access to multiple castings for $29 per month. Gotcast, which is free to use for those who post castings, counts about seven employees and expects to become profitable in a year or so. Currently, Gotcast has a few thousand subscribers. Background: Mr. Schroter was born in Norwalk, Conn., and grew up in that state. He attended Connecticut State University and Ohio University. He previously launched interactive marketing agency Blue Diesel and founded an online community of startup companies and entrepreneurs. He is 33 and splits his time between Columbus and Los Angeles. Who knew? Mr. Schroter has a collection of more than 1,000 comic books. 11:10 a.m.: Corrected spelling to Wil Schroter]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/06/will_schroter_ceo_of_gotcast.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/06/will_schroter_ceo_of_gotcast.php Digital Dealmakers Print Edition Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:51:18 -0800 The player: Sarah Szalavitz, CEO of 7 Robot, a consulting company focused on new-media projects. The play: 7 Robot works with companies, brands and media firms to help them develop the tools, communities and marketing strategies to tell their stories in new mediums, such as online video. That means 7 Robot helps its clients implement distribution, marketing and development strategies for online series and projects. That can include making deals with distributors and determining technical details like the optimum encoding rate for each platform. “We are a cross-platform storytelling company,” Ms. Szalavitz said. Her business partner is Damien Somerset. The pitch: Ms. Szalavitz is the creator and producer of “ZapRoot,” a weekly Web series on green living that garners about 500,000 views for each episode, making it one of the most successful Web series on this topic. Ms. Szalavitz said she is using her strategies with “Zaproot” as a template for new clients at 7 Robot. “We teach clients how to build a community around the show, how to build a franchise around it. Anyone can do this by themselves, but we can do it better, faster and cheaper. It’s hard for people to negotiate for themselves and it’s hard to scale your projects. We do that.” The numbers: Zaproot has earned more than 15 million views total. It’s available on every major video platform online and has seen a 1,000% increase in home-page views this year. The site has experienced a 2,800% bounce in community members this year, and has had 84% of its episodes featured on the home page of the sites on which the show resides. YouTube subscribers have grown 900% this year. In the mix: Clients for 7 Robot include online video shops Generate and Next New Networks. The backstory: Ms. Szalavitz started the company in July while she was working at Veoh Networks. She recently left Veoh and now is working full-time at 7 Robot. The money guys: 7 Robot has not taken venture funding and is currently profitable. The company is paid on a retainer basis by clients. The pros: Brands and marketers are starting to experiment with Web video and many need expert guidance to build an online presence effectively. The cons: Being a middleman is a good bet during the early days of an industry, but over time middlemen often are phased out. Background: Ms. Szalavitz was born and raised in Monroe, N.Y. She earned degrees from the University of Southern California, the London School of Economics and Harvard Law School. She worked as the director of content development at Veoh Networks. She is 33 and lives in Los Angeles. Who knew? Ms. Szalavitz is actually blond. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/05/sarah_szalavitz_ceo_of_7_robot.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/05/sarah_szalavitz_ceo_of_7_robot.php Fri, 23 May 2008 16:30:23 -0800 The player: Brian Shin, CEO of Visible Measures The play: Visible Measures can measure how audiences interact with video on the Web, such as the percentage of a video a viewer watches, when a user hits fast-forward or whether the video is sent to a friend. That’s a level of granularity that goes beyond data that’s available today, which consists primarily of reporting on the number of views. “We see an opportunity where a great deal of advertising can move from offline to online if online can demonstrate greater [return on investment],” Mr. Shin said. “The way to gain more of those dollars is to have increased measurement and improve visibility as to what’s going on, and then advertisers can make better decisions to optimize their spend.” The pitch: Visible Measures is different from a Nielsen or a comScore because it’s not aiming to monitor all Web traffic. “We employ active measurement, and our goal and vision for this space is to measure 100% of audience interaction with video across all video sites,” Mr. Shin said. Visible Measures’ technology integrates with video players to track how users interact in real time with videos online. That helps produce a metric for the amount of time spent with a video, which advertisers consider a reasonable proxy for engagement. In the mix: Visible Measures works with online video sites and services as well as with advertisers. Clients include FunnyorDie.com, Boston.com and the Tribune Co., and Visible Measures expects to announce more deals in the coming weeks. It’s also expanding its capabilities to track interaction with videos virally across the Internet. The company works closely with online TV technology provider Brightcove. The backstory: Visible Measures officially launched in 2005 to track how consumers interacted with rich media online. Since then, Mr. Shin has fine-tuned that mission to focus on video. The money guys: Visible Measures has raised three rounds of venture funding to the tune of more than $19 million, with lead investors including General Catalyst and Mohr Davidow Ventures. Visible Measures makes money by licensing its technology to Web publishers and is paid on a per-campaign basis for the work it does for brands and advertisers. The pros: The need for more precise measurement in online video is great. “Any time a new ad-supported medium matures, it gets proliferation first and then there is a demand for how to monetize it, and online video is tough because the audience is so fragmented,” Mr. Shin said. The cons: Working with both sides—publishers and advertisers—can be challenging, Mr. Shin said. “We need to be a trusted independent third party,” he said. “Also there is a lot of hype and excitement, and we have to show value.” Background: Mr. Shin was born outside of Detroit and raised in Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in biology from Tufts University and then worked at Allaire Corp., the company started by Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire. Mr. Shin then started a software company called Cambridge Intelligence Agency that he sold. He earned his MBA from MIT. He lives in Boston with his wife and young son. Who knew? Mr. Shin collects refrigerator magnets from places he visits and has a collection of more than 200 from locales including Monaco, Tokyo and China. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/05/brian_shin_ceo_of_visible_meas.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/05/brian_shin_ceo_of_visible_meas.php Print Edition Visible Measures Sun, 18 May 2008 20:50:09 -0800 The player: Stephanie Grossman, CEO of Digital Sidebar, a mobile advertising technology provider. The play: Digital Sidebar is a mobile technology company that inserts content and ads into the so-called “white space” on mobile phones. That means when calls come in or when text messages arrive, Digital Sidebar’s technology can judiciously place content and ads on the screen of the phone. The material is short-form, snack-size and can be advertising- or media-related, such as an offer for a song or ads for concert tickets, Ms. Grossman said. “The idea is to engage consumers while they’re engaged, [such as] incoming and outgoing calls, and notification of incoming or outgoing [text messages],” she said. Digital Sidebar is about to launch a pilot test of its technology in June with one of the top two mobile carriers, she said. The pitch: The key to success is to be circumspect with the frequency of the messages on mobile phones, Ms. Grossman said. “We don’t want to be the purveyors of the ad phone,” she said. “The goal is to have an effective solution for mobile advertising and the discovery of content.” Also, Digital Sidebar’s technology makes use of the moments when consumers are interacting with their phone rather than requiring consumers to go to a mobile Web site to see the ads or the offers. In the mix: Digital Sidebar has already inked deals with marketers including Paramount, Universal Pictures and Universal Motown Records Group to deliver their content and ads on mobile phones. Digital Sidebar’s competitors include companies like Third Screen Media. The money guys: Digital Sidebar raised $5 million in private equity. The company is launching the service now and expects to make money from a cut of the ad revenue. The pros: Mobile ad spending will grow from $1.6 billion this year to $4.8 billion in 2011, eMarketer predicted. The cons: Last week the Federal Trade Commission expressed some concern about delivering ads on cell phones and possible hidden costs for consumers. The FTC is likely to watch this business closely. Background: Ms. Grossman was born and raised in Los Angeles and earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of California at Los Angeles. She has worked at Warner Bros., Court TV and Scripps Networks. She currently lives in Santa Monica, Calif. Who knew? When Ms. Grossman was 12, she borrowed $700 and bought gold charm jewelry from the Los Angeles Jewelry Mart. She pinned the jewelry onto pieces of velvet, rolled it up and then sold it door-to-door—at a profit. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/05/stephanie_grossman_ceo_of_digi.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/05/stephanie_grossman_ceo_of_digi.php Sun, 11 May 2008 20:47:08 -0800 The player: Tara Walpert Levy, president of Visible World The play: Visible World is a technology company that enables targeted advertising on television and on the Web, tailored by demographics, geography, programming, time of day and other factors. “Visible World is an intelligent advertising platform. What that means is rather than a flat 30-second spot, our intelligence swaps in or edits the ad on the fly so it’s dynamically customized for the audience,” Ms. Levy said. Visible World partners with programmers and cable operators to deliver tailored national, regional or local spots. Via cable operator relationships, Visible World reaches 52 million cable homes. “We partner with them to install our equipment, which is how this customization is possible,” she said The pitch: “If you want your TV advertising to be effective, or as effective as it could be, you need a system in place that takes advantage of the initial system of TV buying and makes it more tailored and relevant to a lot of different audiences that see your ad at a lot of different times,” Ms. Levy said. In the mix: Visible World’s solution is broad and stretches across the Web and TV. Competitors include companies like YuMe Networks, which focuses on tailored online ads. “The status quo is advertisers putting out one big splashy 30-second spot that isn’t flexible or customized or fresh for the viewing audience,” she said. The numbers: Visible World counts more than 200 advertiser partners, including seven of the top 10 automotive companies, eight of the top 10 media companies and four of the top six cable and telecommunications companies. Other national brands using Visible World’s technology include Lenovo, Sears-Kmart and Wendy’s. Lenovo is using Visible World to offer 600 permutations of ads both online and on TV. Lenovo then assesses the response rates online to determine which ads to run on-air. Visible World’s media partners include Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, MTV Networks and Fox. The backstory: The company was founded in 2000 by CEO Seth Haberman with a focus on delivering ads targeted to the household. Over time, Visible World expanded to include online and TV and to targeting by demographics and geography, for instance. The money guys: Visible World has raised $70 million in venture funding, including $25 million last month in a round led by new investors Adams Street Partners and AllianceBernstein, with existing investors Comcast Interactive Capital, Dawntreader Ventures, Grey Ventures, Leucadia National, Marketing Services Risk Surety, Time Warner, Viacom and Comcast Interactive Capital upping their investments. That money will fund growth, Ms. Levy said. Visible World makes money via license fees. The pros: “This is a huge market that desperately needs a solution,” Ms. Levy said. “We have an elegant and easy solution to a very big problem in marketing.” The cons: Madison Avenue doesn’t move quickly to change. Background: Ms. Levy was born and raised in Massachusetts and earned a B.A. in economics from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. She joined Visible World in 2005 after working at McKinsey & Co. and Goldman Sachs. She is married and lives in New York. Who knew? Ms. Levy was a competitive figure skater until she was 18. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/05/tara_walpert_levy_president_of.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/05/tara_walpert_levy_president_of.php Print Edition Tara Walpert Levy Visible World Sun, 04 May 2008 20:50:09 -0800 The player: Jacqueline Corbelli, CEO of BrightLine iTV Marketing Specialists. The play: BrightLine iTV is a marketing and communications firm that designs interactive television campaigns for advertisers. The company focuses on interactive TV efforts that allow users to interact with a brand on TV using their remote control, cell phone or computer. “We help marketers figure out how to get their consumers to engage in their brand and ideally to buy their products,” Ms. Corbelli said. The pitch: BrightLine’s secret sauce lies in its methodology when it comes to interactive TV campaigns. “The key to effectiveness in interactive TV as a communications tool is knowing how to manipulate the technology in order to elicit the behavior, and that’s what we know how to do, because we have proprietary data from 35 campaigns that we designed for interactive TV,” she said. That information includes insight on how to maximize response rates, engagement and types of interactivity, for instance. In the mix: BrightLine competes against traditional media agencies that also are placing their clients in interactive campaigns. BrightLine’s clients have included Webster Bank, Progressive Insurance, Reebok and 23 brands at Unilever, such as Axe, Degree and Suave. BrightLine produced an interactive polling feature for Bertolli that ran in Bravo’s “Top Chef” in EchoStar homes last fall. Ms. Corbelli said about 9% of people watching interacted using their remote and 4% interacted using their phones. The backstory: BrightLine was founded in 2003. The company counts 15 employees, but expects to double its headcount by year end. The money guys: BrightLine raised a small amount of seed money when it was founded. The company has been profitable for two years. The pros: BrightLine has a strong success rate for clients. “If done well, you can get up to seven minutes of engagement on the TV, repeat views online of two to three times and opt-in rates of 6% to 7%,” Ms. Corbelli said. The cons: Not all consumers can interact with TV ads, and some brands are reluctant to try interactive advertising. Background: Ms. Corbelli was born and raised in western New York. She has a master’s degree from Columbia University with specialties in finance, banking and international business. She previously worked at Aston Associates, a business redesign firm, most recently serving as president of the company. She lives in Westport, Conn., with her husband and three daughters. Who knew? Ms. Corbelli is also an independent film producer; her movie “The Deal” premiered at Sundance in January. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/04/jacqueline_corbelli_ceo_of_bri.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/04/jacqueline_corbelli_ceo_of_bri.php Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:50:42 -0800 The player: Fred Singer, CEO of Anystream The play: Anystream manages video from start to finish for the Internet, iPods and mobile phones. Media company customers use Anystream to manage the production of video, including encoding into the proper format, tracking the files and managing the ads. The Anystream technology determines which Web sites have the right to carry a piece of video and when. “You now need to be in Google, YouTube, Comcast.net. There are now business rules behind video distribution,” Mr. Singer said. The pitch: Anystream’s secret sauce is a holistic approach to video, Mr. Singer said. “We don’t just try to deal with one piece of a customer’s problems. We can take the video from video stream to revenue stream, which includes production, management and monetization. Lots of people do individual pieces of the puzzle.” In the mix: Anystream counts 700 media companies worldwide using its services, such as CNN, MTV, Fox Sports, HSN and TV Guide in the United States. Anystream competes most directly with thePlatform, though Anystream also goes up against companies such as Telestream on the encoding side. Backstory: Anystream was founded in 2000 to handle video encoding and distribution for big media companies. In 2007 Anystream acquired technology firm Cauldron, which gave Anystream the additional tools to manage the distribution of videos and accompanying ads in different formats, such as online. “Monetizing is on everyone’s mind. When you sit down with people, it’s gone from production to management and monetizing comes next,” Mr. Singer said. The money guys: Anystream is venture-backed by Softbank and SCP, which have invested $30 million into the company. Anystream makes money via a license fee for its technology and is projecting profitability in the near future. The pros: The infrastructure is just being built in the new-media world for rapid production and management of online video content, creating a huge business opportunity for Anystream, Mr. Singer said. The cons: “It’s a big operating system that needs to be built, and you need to choose the right people and make sure the right things are done in order,” Mr. Singer said. Background: Mr. Singer was born and raised in Montreal. Prior to Anystream, he worked at Softbank, America Online and the Washington Post. He has a bachelor’s degree from Queen’s University in Canada and a master’s degree from Harvard Business School. He has lived in Toronto, Boston and Washington, D.C., and now lives outside of D.C. with his wife and three children. Who knew? When Mr. Singer attended business school, he began producing a documentary about 30 of his classmates, visiting with them every five years for 15 years. He will release the documentary next year with a focus on three of those 30 people. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/04/fred_singer_ceo_of_anystream.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/04/fred_singer_ceo_of_anystream.php Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:50:43 -0800 The player: Kirsten Sanford, an online video host and science expert known on-camera as “Dr. Kiki.” The play: Ms. Sanford is a mini-entrepreneur in the Web-video world, a one-woman shop who’s focused on marketing herself as an on-air host and expert on all things science. She has a Ph.D. in neurophysiology and has leveraged that, along with her witty and accessible personality, into online video hosting gigs with Revision3’s “Pop Siren” and ON Networks’ “Food Science.” She’s begun adding TV to her resume and early this month shot a TV pilot called “The Skeptologists,” produced by production company the New Rule. She also hosts an audio podcast, “This Week in Science.” The pitch: Ms. Sanford aims to share science news that viewers can bring to cocktail parties, such as the possibility that Saturn’s moons have the building blocks for life on them. “My shtick is Dr. Kiki reaches out to people who don’t necessarily like science to get them to see it as something enjoyable. My goal is to get people who maybe flunked chemistry or didn’t do well on their science fair project to say, ‘This is really interesting,’” she said. The backstory: Ms. Sanford went to graduate school at the University of California at Davis intending to become a researcher. But she was turned off by the bureaucracy of academia. In her final year of study, she decided she’d rather take a chance at being the new face of science, using her podcast with its weekly audience of 20,000 listeners as a launching pad. She began attending Web-centric conferences and started landing work online. The money guys: Ms. Sanford has invested about $20,000 of her own money in travel, expenses and media equipment to promote her own work and develop her shows. For her podcast, she is contracted with the Wizard Network, which sells ads on the show. She’s paid by ON Networks and Revision3 for her work on their shows. Ms. Sanford said she is scraping by at the moment, but has given herself two years to break even as a science expert in new media and on-air. She’s one year into her project so far. “The fact that I am already becoming a little better known is helping, and people are now reaching out to me,” she said. She was contacted recently by Discovery’s Science Channel about possible work. She hopes to use potential on-air work to drive her new-media audience. “I won’t give up one for the other, and I am hoping they will both benefit each other,” she said. The pros: Ms. Sanford is well-positioned as a science expert and has found early success in her new-media endeavors. The cons: The biggest challenge is making a living. “I am getting to the point where I am starting to make a living,” she said. “Sometimes it’s hard to keep in perspective because of the challenge of maintaining everything on a day-to-day basis.” Background: Ms. Sanford was born in Santa Rosa, Calif., and grew up outside of Stockton, Calif. She earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from the University of California at Davis and a Ph.D. in neurophysiology from the same school. She is 33 and lives in San Francisco with her husband. Who knew? Ms. Sanford can Hula Hoop with the Hula Hoop on fire. Without getting burned. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/04/kirsten_dr_kiki_sanford_host_a.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/04/kirsten_dr_kiki_sanford_host_a.php Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:50:18 -0800 The player: Peter Hoskins, CEO of ManiaTV The play: ManiaTV produces, packages and distributes made-for-Internet programming. The online network’s shows are targeted to the 18 to 34 age group and draw pretty evenly from men and women. Over the last year, the network has produced more than 30 shows; it’s currently creating fresh episodes for six shows, including “Spread Entertainment” with Dave Navarro. Mania plans to launch more shows in the coming months. Most programs tend to be 30 minutes in duration or longer, though viewers can tune into the segments that most interest them. “People will watch good content. And good content is not defined by two to three minutes,” Mr. Hoskins said. The pitch: Mania’s content is targeted to 18- to 34-year-olds who are comfortable sitting down with their laptop for their entertainment fix. The network only produces shows that have advertisers on board from the get-go. ManiaTV conducts “mini-upfronts” for all its shows before putting them on. “We pre-sell advertising associated with the shows, and it’s category-exclusive,” Mr. Hoskins said. “We then produce with the advertisers in mind for branded entertainment and ‘brought to you by’ segments.” That strategy also means that each show is profitable because ManiaTV won’t launch a show until it has lined up enough sponsors to cover the costs. In the mix: ManiaTV has primarily distributed its shows on its own site at maniatv.com for the last three years in order to build its brand. The network will begin implementing a wider distribution strategy this quarter and has struck deals for its shows to be carried on portals like Yahoo Video as well as niche sites in the topic areas for the shows. ManiaTV has been circumspect about iTunes distribution because it’s difficult to track ads on iTunes downloads, Mr. Hoskins said. However, ManiaTV is talking to tech vendors about solving that problem. The numbers: ManiaTV draws 4 million unique visitors each month from a base of about 9 million total viewers. That’s up from about 1 million total viewers a year ago. About 53% of the audience is male and 47% female. About 70% of viewers are 18 to 39. The network said 84% of ManiaTV viewers have researched at least one product after seeing an ad on the network. The money guys: ManiaTV is ad-supported; sponsors have included Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike, Adidas, Honda, Chevrolet, Ford, Best Buy, Jeep, Nikon and Showtime. “No show gets produced unless it has ad dollars tied into it,” Mr. Hoskins said. “We manage the costs of production proportionally to what the audience is and revenue for that show.” ManiaTV has raised $26 million in venture funding capital from Intel, Centennial Ventures, Benchmark Capital and Dag Ventures. While each show is profitable, the company as a whole will be profitable by next year, he said. The backstory: The company was founded in Denver in 2004 by Drew Massey, who remains with the company on the board. Mr. Hoskins became CEO in June 2007. The company moved to Los Angeles at the start of this year and originates its programs from there. The pros: ManiaTV is smart financially and doesn’t produce a show until it has ad support. The cons: Web video is hyper-competitive, with TV networks, portals and indie producers vying for the same $1.4 billion in ad spend for online video. Background: Mr. Hoskins was born in Park City, Utah, and grew up in Las Vegas. He studied physics and math at Berkeley. He worked as a managing principal with IBM’s consulting group and then served as CEO of a software company before joining ManiaTV. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. Who knew? Mr. Hoskins said Gene Simmons nearly choked him out in a bar fight at the Dragonfly in Hollywood because Mr. Hoskins referred to Shannon Tweed, Mr. Simmons’ longtime partner, as Mr. Simmons’ wife. Mr. Hoskins quickly recovered, he says, joking that he won the brawl by bending Mr. Simmons’ arm back in “an arm bar submission.” The whole incident was just “in good fun,” he added. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/04/peter_hoskins_ceo_of_maniatv.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/04/peter_hoskins_ceo_of_maniatv.php Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:50:36 -0800 The player: Christopher Michel, CEO of Affinity Labs in San Francisco The play: Affinity Labs is a technology and publishing company that develops social networking sites around specific niches, usually professions. The sites Affinity develops, such as Military.com, a job board for the military that counts 10 million members, often include videos. Affinity now operates 11 niche sites that cater to the likes of teachers, nurses and police officers. “It’s kind of a vertical job board meets a social network,” Mr. Michel said. The pitch: Affinity Labs is an example of how companies are using the Web to serve video and information that is targeted to niches and communities. The sites Affinity Labs develops are designed to be social hubs and contain articles, videos, pictures and job listings to draw users in. “Our niche is all niche,” Mr. Michel said. “We think of an interesting vertical and we are going to own that category. Over time we will be in hundreds of communities.” In the mix: Affinity Labs bears some similarities to companies like Ning and KickApps that provide social media tools to Web sites, but Affinity owns and operates the sites it develops. Affinity also uses its own proprietary technology. The key to being successful in social media is to be “hyperfocused on things that move the needle,” Mr. Michel said. “It has to be great consumer value, and I think we have an extraordinary analytical focus to marketing and customer retention.” Backstory: Mr. Michel started Military.com in 1999 with funding in part from A&E and History Channel, the Mayfield Fund, Primedia and U.S. Venture Partners. He sold the site to Monster Inc. in 2004. Then he launched Affinity Labs in 2006 and sold that to Monster in January. The money guys: The company is owned by Monster. Affinity Labs makes money by selling ads on the sites and with job postings. Mr. Michel would not disclose a time frame for profitability. The pros: The opportunity for Affinity Labs lies in serving niches online with a full suite of social media, video and job listings. The cons: Media on the Web is being increasingly fragmented and competition for niches is fierce. Background: Mr. Michel was born in Florida and grew up in Paris, Connecticut and Illinois. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Illinois, then spent seven years in the Navy, including a stint at the Pentagon. He earned an MBA from Harvard. He lives in San Francisco. Who knew? Mr. Michel is also a photographer and takes thousands of pictures a week, of both people and places. ]]> http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/03/christopher_michel_ceo_of_affi.php http://www.tvweek.com/talking-tv/dealmakers/2008/03/christopher_michel_ceo_of_affi.php Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:50:09 -0800