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What Google Could Do With Brightcove

Christophor Rick | 3 years ago |

What Google Could Do With Brightcove Rumors are surfacing from a Mark Glaser Tweet last week that said Google is in talks with Brightcove to buy them for $500M to $700M. While everyone else is speculating on the purchase, I'm speculating on what Google could do with the video service.

Google Video Ad network anyone?

Imagine they do buy up Brightcove and then they pull the pieces apart and use it to deliver video advertising to the masses, tie it into their pre-existing ad networks and (here's the big thing) use it to serve video ads on YouTube. Whoa. That would then give them the largest video property on the planet and the technology to rival everyone for the largest video ad network on the planet. Google Adsense video would then be another logical step. If they have the massive delivery potential and the technology they might as well use it to make loads of cash right? Why develop when you can buy...

Move over Hulu

Wait, what if they use it to start compiling content from content creators like cable TV and other offline properties and then begin a competing service to Hulu and the others. They could then own the world's largest video sharing property and the world's largest premium video content property. That is if they want to go that route. With YouTube starting to show more professional content it seems like this would be a little redundant and not as great an idea as that first one.

Google Content Delivery Platform

Google is always big on providing services. What it they suddenly want to get into pushing that video to the users? They could incorporate it into every facet of their services. Video-enabled Google Docs, Google Reader, City Tours... The possibilities for them enabling video on a massive scale across everything they have is astounding.

Android Plus Video

Aha! Since Android is their favorite bet these days what's to stop them from making a video content delivery service for Android and its users? They could streamline everything to the point where no matter where you are with your Android-based device, you can get all the video content you ever desired.

Into the Unknown

Perhaps Google is collectively smarter than all of us combined and they have some massive secret plan that we are not even able to grasp. They are constantly working on all sorts of things in their Labs and I could see them doing something we never thought to think of. Generally though, when they buy something they do it for a reason and if they are going to buy Brightcove, I bet they already know how it will fit into their grand scheme. I'm betting on a Google video ad network personally.

About the Author - Christophor Rick

Christophor Rick is a freelance writer specializing in technology, new media, video games, IPTV, online video advertising and consumer electronics. His past work has included press releases, copy-writing, travel writing and journalism. He also writes novel-length and short fiction as part of Three-Faced Media and is working on Not So Super, an original web series. You can contact Chris here. View All Posts By - Christophor Rick

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What do you think? ▼

http://www.BusinessOfVideo.com Dan Rayburn
Hi Christophor,
A couple of problems with some of your ideas.
Google is already delivering ads across YouTube. What advantage does Brigthcove give Google in doing that? Brightcove's ad platform has never been the main focus of the company or their technology and they partner with a lot of other ad networks via plugins. Most of the third party companies do a lot better job of ad management than Brightcove as that's their main focus. Brightcove's ad network is also not that big so they would not be acquiring it for that so I don't see any ad network synergies at all. You say, "That would then give them the largest video property on the planet " but YouTube is already the largest video property on the web. They don't need Brightcove for that.
As far as "Google Content Delivery Platform" goes, remember that Google does not support streaming today and that's something that a very large percentage of Brightcove customers use. Without being able to support Flash streaming delivery, Google would have to either built out that service or use a third party CDN since Brightcove uses Limelight for the delivery.
http://intensedebate.com/people/reelseo Mark Robertson
Hey Dan,
I would agree that their ad platform might not be the key, but I wonder about the companies that use Brightcove and the content that it represents in terms of the ability to monetize that content (long-form, newsworthy content, etc...). With my limited view, I can only think of my time at Freedom Communications... With our 40+ newspapers and broadcast stations across the US, we have produced a ton of content (all on Brightcove - which is a great platform), but we have had difficulty monetizing it to its full potential. I would think that Freedom (I left so cant speak for them now) would be more than open to a remnant ad situation with Google, though I realize that can be done now with Yume, etc... Certainly, I think it might give Google more clout with those advertisers who may still be uninterested in advertising on UGC. As for the platform, good point.... I think that they could do it without Brighcove already and many folks are already using YouTube somewhat for this purpose. YouTube has done some live streaming, but that is over my head so no arguments with you there. Im just a marketer anyway, this stuff is all down the stack from my expertise ;-)
http://www.NicoMcLane.com nico
If Google wants to buy a company to serve VideoAds why buy up Brightcove when they can snap up Tremor - the real "secret sauce" behind the video Ad Services... Hmmm?
http://www.brandedchannels.com Richard vd Boogaard
If this proves to be true, I can imagine Google wanting to buy Brightcove because they excel in what their current progressive download platform does not offer - indeed, Digital Rights Management (DRM). Although DRM has died a long time ago for anyone that prefers more over less eyeballs, this is not the case for content owners. I guess YouTube is in need of more monetizable content and you simply can't get the great stuff if it isn't protected. That would be the strategic logic behind this move. Remember Hulu is only available in the USA (I can't see it) and content owners prefer to do business with large platforms rather than many small ones (in the Netherlands, http://www.veamer.nl just launched).
http://www.BusinessOfVideo.com Dan Rayburn
Brigthcove does not have any DRM technology, nor is it using any. Brightcove is simply protecting the video streams by using RTMPE, which is Adobe's technology. If Google wanted that functionality, all they would need to do is license Adobe's FMS servers, not buy Brightcove.
http://intensedebate.com/people/reelseo Mark Robertson
Funny in retrospect how a simple tweet could generate so much interest and speculation