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Brightcove.com is an online video platform that allows video content makers to create, distribute and monetize their video content. The site features browser-based tools for creating video content, adding advertising to it and distributing it. There are two basic methods of distribution. With the first method, video content makers can generate traffic by allowing their content to be placed on blogs and websites free of charge. With the second method, the video content makers license their content to buyers who can use it however they see fit. Advertising is added by one of two methods as well. Users can allow Brightcove to inject advertising into their content and share half the revenue. Or they can pay Brightcove a fee and inject their own advertising into the content. The site is centered around the user’s Studio, which is a complete browser-based video publishing platform. Using the Media section, users can upload a variety of media and can edit videos, create playlists and add them to players. In the Publishing section, users can create and edit players, and obtain the code for placing them on websites. In the Advertising section, users can control and configure the advertising policies for their video content.

Cambridge, MA-based Brightcove.com was founded in early 2004 by Jeremy Allaire, who is currently CEO. Bob Mason is CTO of the company, while Scot Rosenblum is CFO. The site has undergone continuous growth since launch, and currently serves millions of unique visitors per month. The site has an Alexa page rank near the 5,000 mark. The site provides video services to Fox, CBS News and VBS.tv, among others. The company announced its intention to go public expecting to raise $50 million through its IPO.

Competition to Brightcove comes from sites such as YouTube and Joost. The primary difference between Brightcove and YouTube is that YouTube is oriented more towards individual video uploads, while Brightcove concentrates more on professional and corporate content. YouTube has a much greater audience reach than Brightcove, however. Joost is similar to YouTube, but does include more professional content. Joost has about the same audience size as Brightcove.

The Brightcove site has a very Web 2.0 look and feel. The site is very responsive, and page loads happen quickly. Navigation is intuitive with a convenient top menu bar shown on all pages, and the user interface for the browser-based apps is very well done. The applications are quite responsive, and file uploads, downloads and video streams perform seamlessly. There is extensive help available for using the online applications.

Registration for a 30-day free trial of the Brightcove service is free and is required to use the service. The registration process asks for first and last name, email address, password, security question and answer, country, company name, full address, phone and website. Validation of the email address is not required.

Brightcove offers three levels of premium membership, Basic, Pro and Enterprise. The Basic membership level allows for 1 Brightcove account, up to 5 users and support via email. The Pro membership level allows for 1 Brightcove account, up to 10 users and email and telephone support. The Enterprise membership allows for up to 2 Brightcove accounts, up to 30 users and email and telephone support. Pricing for these programs was not available from the Brightcove website.

Brightcove is recommended to anyone who needs to create and distribute online video content. The service provides convenient tools for creating, editing, publishing and monetizing video content. The ability to add advertising to monetize content, along with the different methods of distribution available, make the service an extremely flexible tool.

• Users can upload content, create, and edit videos using the site’s browser-based Studio
• Users can create and edit players for their video content, and obtain the code for publishing them to blogs and websites
• The service allows users to monetize their content either by inserting advertising or by selling the rights to it
• Advertising can be inserted by the Brightcove site or added by the user
• The site makes it easy to publish and distribute the user’s video content

Brightcove video

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