NAB: Why $46 Million Was Invested in Move Networks

Almost lost in a sea of keynotes, sessions and product launches at NAB was news that video streaming firm Move Networks Inc. landed $46 million in funding from investors, including a service provider networking giant and a cable operator.

The investments, which are expected to help Cisco Systems Inc. and Comcast Corp.’s interactive media unit, learn even more about how to optimize Web video technical and business operations, were more important than the amount of money raised to date – more than $63 million.

Move said the video technologies and services it has developed and managed enable brands to effectively and reliably deliver live and on-demand HD quality programming “to millions of people without the buffering, stalling, and low-quality viewing experiences common with competing technologies.” The company said its customers include ABC, the CW, Discovery, ESPN and Fox.

“We’re seeing huge investments in web video companies, but I’m still waiting for Internet sites to come up with some strongly differentiated content that people would talk about at the water cooler the next day,” said Michelle Abraham, a principal analyst with In-Stat. “Watching the same content you can get without the web but on a different screen is one thing but that’s different from video content you can only get on the ‘net.”

Abraham believes the emergence of companies such as Move, Hulu, Joost and others lend credence at least to the growing interest in Web video, whether as an augmentation of consumers’ video viewing or as a competitor to some extent with traditional TV services.

And while the bulk of pure-play video sites rely on content syndication to larger sites rather than advertising for revenue, a growing number of consumer products firms, even laggards like U.S. automakers, are spending more of their ad dollars on online than ever before.

The competition for Web video relevance is becoming increasingly fierce since late last year, especially with the recent launch of Hulu.com, a NBC Universal and News Corp venture of great interest given its content owner co-creator.

The investment by Cisco represents an effort to expand beyond network hardware and related devices to understand what goes into getting a video site up and running. It’s already one of eight partners in the Web video framework created by thePlatform, a video management and publishing system vendor owned by Comcast.

“As consumers’ demand for high -quality premium content at anytime and any place continues to grow at a rapid rate, the technology and infrastructure must keep pace with the global market demand,” said John Edwards, CEO of Move Networks, in prepared comments.

Comcast’s CIM unit explained in part why his company invested in Move.

“The consumer experience is a central component to the future growth of broadband video,” said Ian Blaine, senior vice-president of content publishing for Comcast Interactive Media and CEO of thePlatform. “Consumers expect online video to mirror their television or DVD experience today. Companies such as Move Networks will play a key role going forward.”

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines