At the beginning of last week, we sent an email to all the filmmakers in our network asking them how THEY want VideoAgency.tv to work. Over the past days we went through all the responses (and there were many!) and it has given us a clear idea of what we need to do.
We were overwhelmed by your enthusiasm and helpfulness. We received responses from filmmakers in 22 different countries and they gave us a lot of insight on how the freelance filmmaker market works now as well as how it can be improved.
I would like to thank each and every one of you personally for your insight and suggestions. We are going to work feverishly over the next weeks to launch the perfect product for you!
If there is anything else you would like to add, I am all ears: thomas@trivop.com
Hey Congrats to TurnHere (Brad and his team) who secured a first round of financing yesterday of $7.5M from Hearst Corporation and Venrock!
TurnHere is a company I have watched since their launch. Their learning curve and experience, acquired, in terms of global production, is not far from ours here at VideoAgency with Trivop. I am convinced about TurnHere’s offering.
They have developed an impressive network of filmmakers and can organize massive production efforts at low cost for the clients everywhere (B2B). Their clients are big brands like Condenet, Intercontinental, Simon & Schulster…
They also organize the distribution of these videos on big platforms.
I heard and talked with some American VCs who had met TurnHere and I think that Hearst Corp. is definitely a good investor for a company like TurnHere.
Why ?
Because it makes sense from an industrial point of view. Hearst is one of the biggest US publishers and Mr. William Randolph Hearst III is so convinced about videos (as we are) that they could really use all TurnHere’s filmmaker network to efficiently produce videos for Hearst and grow a massive inventory faster than their competitors! TurnHere will obviously benefit from it and gain a very strong position on the US market.
I watched the interview that Mr William Randolph Hearst III gave to beet.tv a year ago (he invested personally to seed the company and now his great group). If you don’t know Hearst you should have a look to their website. It’s an empire!
So we say think that TurnHere was a proof of concept to Hearst i.e. Videos on their website are very valuable and the added value from TurnHere is good. TurnHere understood the customer pain: their clients don’t know how to produce and need inventories fast. When I talk to big guys in US they are hot about videos and Internet. It will be the same soon in Europe… And more over because video will totally be part of any SEO strategy and visibility. That’s why SEO Video is becoming a part of e-marketing.
TurnHere, Trivop and Spotrunner (which acquired Globeshooter a few weeks ago and have over 1200 filmmakers now) are the only 3 companies in the world with their own filmmaker networks.
Having a crowded filmmaker network is really becoming a highly valuable asset!
Why ?
Because I totally agree with Brad that every website will have to publish a video on their website and they will look for easy solutions with affordable prices… A one-stop-shopping place.
The next big production company in the world will be a company dedicated to producing videos for the Internet and TurnHere could probably be the one with a few others
MegaVideo, one of the newest video sites, has challenged YouTube users to switch to their service. This is a bold statement that is giving them a lot of media attention. Even if YouTube users decide not to switch to them in masses, the PR storm will surely increase awareness.
To back up their ambitions, they have released a video that gives YouTube users 10 reasons to start using MegaVideo. You can see this video below.
The top reason for switching to MegaVideo, according to them, is that you earn money on your video with their rewards program. With an AdBrite publisher account, you can earn ALL the revenue generated by advertising in your video. Also, there is no maximum playtime for uploaded videos.
All in all the offering doesn’t seem bad at all. Who knows if it will help filmmakers and videoagraphers make money. We’ll see what YouTube users make of it over the coming months.
