blip.tv, an online video broadcasting company, just announced a $10.1 million round of funding led by
Mike Hudack, CEO and co-founder of blip.tv, discussed the new funding and upcoming plans.
AdExchanger.com: What can you share regarding the funding environment today?
There’s less irrational exuberance in today’s funding environment, but that’s a good thing. There’s less noise and froth, and so I think it’s easier to get deals done if they’re backed by good fundamentals.
Why was Canaan Partners a good fit for blip.tv?
With venture capital firms it all comes down to the partner. I’ve known Warren Lee for a couple of years now and he’s extremely smart, extremely capable and an all-around good guy. I think that’s what matters most. Warren and his partners at Canaan also have deep domain expertise and contacts that will be very helpful as we continue to grow our business.
Regarding international ad sales expansion, why do you see this as an opportunity for growth?
Like most Web companies, blip.tv is an international business. There are no borders on the Internet. But there are borders when it comes to advertising. Some companies are buying and planning across national borders, but most aren’t. We have a lot of viewers in Western Europe and we think there’s a huge opportunity there.
International ad sales isn’t the only area we’re expanding, though. We’re also growing our content and audience development team significantly. We’re focused on providing services for independent show producers. Advertising and audience are two very important pieces of the puzzle.
Are advertisers today buying audience or content through blip.tv?
Both. We have a unique competitive advantage over traditional television shows: traditional TV needs to be targeted to the widest possible audience because of the opportunity cost of broadcast. Web shows can hit very specific, homogenous audiences. On television advertisers buy audience indexes. On blip they can buy audiences. We aggregate together shows with very specific, well-defined audiences to offer both incredible targeting and scale. And because of the type of content we work with we can offer that targeted audience along with content-based context. The combination is incredibly powerful and leads to industry-leading engagement rates.
By John Ebbert
