November 6, 2009 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q4 2009

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1 November 6, 2009 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q by Bobby Tulsiani for Consumer Product Strategy Professionals Making Leaders Successful Every Day

2 Includes a Forrester Wave November 6, 2009 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q Brightcove And Ooyala Lead A Maturing Market by Bobby Tulsiani with Mark Mulligan and Erik Hood Executive Summary In Forrester s 37-criteria evaluation of online video platform vendors, Brightcove and Ooyala lead the pack with their end-to-end product offerings that target organizations of all sizes. VMIX and Kaltura follow closely behind with comprehensive offerings and are Strong Performers, while Twistage and Fliqz serve more narrow segments of the market and are Contenders. table of Contents 2 Every Organization Needs A Video Strategy Online Video Platforms Power Video For An Organization Online Video Platforms Evaluation Overview Evaluation Criteria Emphasize Broad Offerings And Visionary Road Maps Evaluated Vendors Focus On Consumer On- Demand Video Online Video Platforms Mature Vendor Profiles Leaders: Brightcove And Ooyala Strong Performers: Kaltura And VMIX Contenders: Twistage And Fliqz Supplemental Material NOTES & RESOURCES Forrester conducted product evaluations in and assessed six vendors: Brightcove, Fliqz, Kaltura, Ooyala, Twistage, and VMIX. Related Research Documents The Best Practices In Online Video Across Industries July 24, 2009 Competing With Hulu May 11, 2009 Five Rules To Drive Video Traffic March 6, , Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester, Technographics, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. To purchase reprints of this document, please clientsupport@forrester.com. For additional information, go to

3 2 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q every organization needs a video strategy Today, 71% of the US online audience watches video on the Internet, and the number of streams consumed should more than double by While the large media and entertainment companies may have been the first to integrate video into their Web sites, organizations of all sizes across all industries are increasingly adopting video on their Web sites. Online Video Platforms Power Video For An Organization Whether it is a large media publisher or a small retailer, each organization employing an online video vendor should expect a platform to provide: End-to-end solutions. From ingestion to playback to monetization, organizations should be able to get the full range of video services from a single platform. Scale. Video is a bandwidth-intensive activity, and organizations need a platform that can scale as traffic grows over time. It must also support single-day spikes in volume for content that goes viral. Long-term commitment. Given the shifting strategies and volatility of some startups in the video platform sector, organizations must be wary of vendors that do not commit to building a leading video platform. 2 Online video platforms Evaluation Overview To assess the state of the online video platform market and see how the vendors stack up against each other, Forrester evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of six US online video platform vendors. Evaluation Criteria Emphasize Broad Offerings And Visionary Road Maps After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we developed a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria. We evaluated vendors against 37 criteria, which we grouped into three high-level buckets: Current offering. To assess each vendor s offering, we evaluated the following product features: media management, user-generated video, player capabilities, publishing capabilities, distribution capabilities, monetization capabilities, and reporting capabilities. Additionally, to move beyond features, we also evaluated each platform s internationalization, integration, scalability, and service offerings. Strategy. To evaluate the vendor s strategy, we measured the vendor s ability to envision the future needs of the marketplace and the road map required to meet these needs. We also factored in each vendor s relationships with its partners and its executive team s experience. November 6, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

4 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q Market presence. To determine the long-term viability of each vendor, we evaluated its customer base and financial strength. Evaluated Vendors Focus On Consumer On-Demand Video Forrester included six vendors in the assessment: Brightcove, Fliqz, Kaltura, Ooyala, Twistage, and VMIX. Each of these vendors has (see Figure 1): A focus on consumer on-demand video. The vendors evaluated for this Forrester Wave primarily enable organizations to create on-demand video experiences for external consumers or constituents. We did not include vendors that have a primary focus on live streaming or enterprise video conferencing. Offerings for both premium and user-generated video. The evaluated vendors offer solutions that cover both premium video and user-uploaded video. We did not include companies that primarily focus on the high end of the market, such as Digital Smiths, Move Networks, and The Platform, in this evaluation although some of the vendors we evaluated also compete in that space. Figure 1 Evaluated Vendors: Platform Information And Selection Criteria Vendor Platform evaluated Platform version evaluated Date evaluated Brightcove Brightcove Fliqz Fliqz N/A Kaltura Kaltura Virgo Ooyala Backlot 3.5 Twistage Twistage Video Platform 2.0 VMIX VMIX Multimedia Management Platform 3.0 Vendor has at least 50 clients under contract. Vendor selection criteria Vendor has clients with significant video scale (100,000 streams per day). Vendor enables both premium and user-generated solutions for video. Vendor focuses on enabling organizations to create on-demand video experiences for external consumers or constituents. Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited November 6, 2009

5 4 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q online video platforms mature The online video platform space has come a long way from the pop-up player and choppy playback experience of a few years ago. Basic media management, player capabilities, and publishing capabilities are now table stakes for all of the video platform providers, and most differentiate along their capabilities in user-generated video, distribution, monetization, and analytics (see Figure 2). Brightcove and Ooyala lead with end-to-end offerings. Brightcove and Ooyala offer the most complete solutions and consistently scored well across all of our evaluation criteria. Brightcove separates itself from the pack with leading scores in distribution and integration, while Ooyala earns its highest marks in monetization and analytics. Each platform is fully capable of serving all segments of the video market on a global basis. Kaltura and VMIX offer strong, differentiated options. Kaltura and VMIX offer strong capabilities in most of our evaluation categories and work with their customers on custom development for many of their gaps. Each of these two vendors also uniquely differentiates its offerings Kaltura is the only open source platform in our evaluation and also offers a selfhosted version of its platform; and rather than offering standard packages, VMIX provides customers with customized solutions for implementation, training, support, and pricing. Fliqz and Twistage serve narrower niches. While Twistage and Fliqz lack leading capabilities in areas such as distribution and monetization, they do offer competitive capabilities in the core areas of media management, player capabilities, and publishing capabilities. Twistage s open API structure allows it to power many third-party aggregators behind the scenes, while Fliqz s focus on user-generated content enables it to power a number of user-upload sites. This evaluation of the online video platform market is intended to be a starting point only. We encourage readers to view detailed product evaluations and adapt the criteria weightings to fit their individual needs through the Forrester Wave Excel-based vendor comparison tool. November 6, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

6 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q Figure 2 Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q4 09 Strong Risky Strong Bets Contenders Performers Leaders Twistage VMIX Ooyala Kaltura Brightcove Go online to download the Forrester Wave tool for more detailed product evaluations, feature comparisons, and customizable rankings. Current offering Fliqz Market presence Weak Weak Strategy Strong Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited November 6, 2009

7 6 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q Figure 2 Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q4 09 (Cont.) Forrester s Weighting Brightcove Fliqz Kaltura Ooyala Twistage VMIX CURRENT OFFERING Breadth of offering Platform features Integration Scalability Services 50% 50% 10% 10% 15% 15% STRATEGY Product strategy Leadership Internal resources Pricing structure 50% 40% 30% 30% 0% MARKET PRESENCE Customers Financials 0% 50% 50% All scores are based on a scale of 0 (weak) to 5 (strong). Source: Forrester Research, Inc. vendor PROFILES Leaders: Brightcove And Ooyala Brightcove. Brightcove s offering is the most comprehensive video platform in this Forrester Wave evaluation; it consistently scores high marks, with few, if any, gaps. The company s customer base, video scale, and internal resources are unrivaled in the market today. Brightcove s significant resources and road map position the company to stay ahead in the video platform race. Ooyala. Ooyala s end-to-end product offers users a seamless experience with best-in-class analytics and monetization capabilities. The company has experienced industry-leading fourdigit growth and is now beginning to mature with a newly hired CEO. As the company looks to move from being a young startup to a mature market leader, we believe that an expansion of its services arm and partnership ecosystem will enable it to take on the largest enterprise clients. November 6, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

8 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q Strong Performers: Kaltura And VMIX Kaltura. Kaltura offers a highly differentiated video platform option, which allows organizations to fully own the open source code at no charge. The company also impresses with pioneering user-generated video that allows viewers to remix video clips. Additionally, the open community at Kaltura.org provides a great resource for innovation and sharing in development. As a newer entrant to the market, Kaltura has started with a solid entry; if it can buttress its monetization and reporting capabilities, it will certainly compete with the market leaders. VMIX. VMIX s comprehensive package targets high-volume publishers with all-inclusive services, such as human moderation review for user-generated content, customized integration, training classes, and full technical support for all customers. Additionally, the platform has an internal syndication library of video content that it offers to customers to enhance their own existing video libraries. Given its focus on volume publishers, we believe that expanding the platform s distribution and monetization capabilities will take the company to the next level. Contenders: Twistage And Fliqz Twistage. Twistage offers many out-of-the-box competitive capabilities and has focused on developing an API-based tool set that allows it to put together more custom back-end solutions. Even with a small development team, the platform has won business on leading consumer video sites and has built an impressive reporting application. However, we would like to see the company expand its team and ambition to move from offering feature parity to providing market-leading features. Fliqz. Fliqz has carved out a strong niche, serving Web publishers with an easy-to-use interface that provides users with the basics required for a video site. However, we would like to see the platform add more robust playlisting and basic distribution options to sites like YouTube for a full solution. The company should be one to watch in the small publisher and user-generated video markets, as it has built a healthy customer base and had consistent quarter-over-quarter growth. Supplemental MATERIAL Online Resource The online version of Figure 2 is an Excel-based vendor comparison tool that provides detailed product evaluations and customizable rankings. Data Sources Used In This Forrester Wave Forrester used a combination of three data sources to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each solution: 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited November 6, 2009

9 8 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q Vendor surveys. Forrester surveyed vendors on their capabilities as they relate to the evaluation criteria. Once we analyzed the completed vendor surveys, we conducted vendor calls where necessary to gather details of vendor qualifications. Product demos. We asked vendors to conduct demonstrations of their product s functionality. We used findings from these product demos to validate details of each vendor s product capabilities. Customer reference calls. To validate product and vendor qualifications, Forrester also conducted reference calls with three of each vendor s current customers. The Forrester Wave Methodology We conduct primary research to develop a list of vendors that meet our criteria to be evaluated in this market. From that initial pool of vendors, we then narrow our final list. We choose these vendors based on: 1) product fit; 2) customer success; and 3) Forrester client demand. We eliminate vendors that have limited customer references and products that don t fit the scope of our evaluation. After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we develop the initial evaluation criteria. To evaluate the vendors and their products against our set of criteria, we gather details of product qualifications through a combination of lab evaluations, questionnaires, demos, and/or discussions with client references. We send evaluations to the vendors for their review, and we adjust the evaluations to provide the most accurate view of vendor offerings and strategies. We set default weightings to reflect our analysis of the needs of large user companies and/or other scenarios as outlined in the Forrester Wave document and then score the vendors based on a clearly defined scale. These default weightings are intended only as a starting point, and we encourage readers to adapt the weightings to fit their individual needs through the Excel-based tool. The final scores generate the graphical depiction of the market based on current offering, strategy, and market presence. Forrester intends to update vendor evaluations regularly as product capabilities and vendor strategies evolve. Endnotes 1 Today, 71% of the US online audience watches video on the Internet, and the number of streams consumed should more than double by An explosion of video content from users, professional studios, and marketers is driving this growth. In this second report in our video strategy series, Forrester has identified the best and worst practices in online video across industries. See the July 24, 2009, The Best Practices In Online Video Across Industries report. November 6, , Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

10 The Forrester Wave : US Online Video Platforms, Q Several companies in the online video platform space have altered their strategies or have gone out of business altogether. VideoEgg, an early pioneer in powering video uploads, altered its strategy to become a video advertising network. Maven, another early leader in the space, told clients it would no longer support video platform services after it was acquired by Yahoo!. Source: Liz Gannes, Yahoo! Cuts Off Maven Customers, NewTeeVee, June 30, 2009 ( 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited November 6, 2009

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