Posts by Bobby Tulsiani (bio)

Bobby Tulsiani | July 22, 2008, 08:10 PM
Competing with Hulu?

We recently published our report “Competing with YouTube”, where we explored strategies to compete with the video giant. Hulu, who has carved out a niche strategy around full length TV shows and premium content, has been one of the early success stories of 2008 in the competitive video space.

Hulu’s early momentum may have inspired new competition. Today, the Wall Street Journal has a story about three major cable operators (time warner, cox, and cable vision) launching video portals (powered by The Platform). It is likely these web sites will focus on full length TV rather than short form UGC (YouTube’s sweet spot).

One important advantage the cable companies may have over Hulu will be access to full length cable shows (because of the carrier fees they pay). However, as we reported in the “Competing with YouTube” report, while content is key, user experience is king online. It remains to be seen if the cable companies can launch sites that match or exceed Hulu's focus on the end user experience. One thing for sure, the Platform and other video infrastructure providers look like quiet winners as more new video sites come online in 2008.

Bobby Tulsiani | June 30, 2008, 05:29 PM
Video VC Funding Still Strong

While Hitwise was announcing YouTube has taken share to its largest lead, 75% of traffic to all video sites, two funding announcements came out. Veoh took in $30 million earlier this month and Chinese video site Youku received $40 million this week.

Taking on YouTube may seem like a suicide mission, but the video market is still early and even a strong second or third place will be valuable in the long term. JupiterResearch looked at the issue in our recent “Competing with YouTube” report, and identified four strategies that video sites could carve out.

The report would classify Veoh on the fast follower track, while Youku is more a niche play (that is, of course, if you can call a target audience of 1 billion niche). We’ll be watching the two sites as they move forward this year. Please do reach out with any comments or inquiry on competing in YouTube world.

Bobby Tulsiani | June 05, 2008, 06:00 PM
CBS & Yahoo Deal: Does Video Syndication Pay?

On PaidContent, I came across the news that Yahoo had joined CBS Audience Network and could now start promoting and distributing the “Tiffany Network's” content across its various properties. JupiterResearch has done in depth analysis around the Internet Television Value Chain and is a strong advocate of syndicating content.

However, as I read more of the story, I was intrigued by a quote from the head of CBS Digital’s Group, Quincy Smith:

“You can’t jam anything down people’s throats ... it’s up to the content now.”

There has been a big focus on content online and getting it in front of large audience (Yahoo!, AOL, MySpace, etc), but I’m not sure the payoff is happening. So I started to look at some numbers. I decided to look at two of CBS current partners, MSN and AOL. On AOL, the latest episode of “How I Met Your Mother” had been viewed around 1100 times. MSN didn’t list views, but assuming those two properties have similar audience sizes, it should be in the same ballpark.

I’m sure we can all do the math on even 3000 views at a $50 CPM; it is not going to be showing up on CBS bottom line. Of course, the math gets very interesting if any of those 3000 viewers then started watching “How I Met Your Mother” on broadcast after watching it online for the first time. But perhaps, most noteworthy from my mini metric investigation, a clip on YouTube from the same episode had done over 12,000 views.

Plenty of lessons to learn in video from this simple exercise: short form, programming & promotion, scale, and the power of YouTube. A topic will be exploring in our upcoming report “Competing with YouTube.”

Bobby Tulsiani | May 28, 2008, 12:37 PM
What Starz Play Means to Paid Video Online

Update: Heard back from the Starz team, and need to correct the record. The Starz Play service will be available for anybody with a internet connection to sign up with. Full details available on the official release.

Getting consumers to pay for video online has been a difficult market to crack. Our Jupiter team is forecasting a current market worth around $185 million and growing to $560 by 2012. The figure of course is even further dwarfed in comparison to the multi-billion market around ad-supported content.

As opposed to the a la carte downloads Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft all push, Starz entertainment had launched the Vongo online video service in 2006. The NY Times reported that Starz would focus less on the Vongo brand, and instead offer “Starz Play” for $5.99 rather than Vongo’s $9.99.

The catch, however, the service will only currently be offered to those with Verizon FIOS customers (See update above) . Not a bad customer base to target first, since movies streamers prefer high quality video, and DSL and cable connections are still not always up to the task.

With HBO testing a broadband subscription service, NetFlix pushing further into one, and now Starz on board with carrier distribution, we may finally see if subscription video can help unlock the paid video market.

Bobby Tulsiani | May 16, 2008, 02:43 PM
Video Creators & SME Conference Next Week

I came several news items this week on NewTeeVee centered on web video creators. First, EQAL, the studio behind Lonely Girl, announced their hit series Kate Modern would conclude. Later in the week, the studio announced a deal with CBS with first rights to their content as well as be involved in web production for CBS series.

The Obama Girl team also appears to be moving up to the big leagues as well, signing a deal to produce a feature film. Jupiter has been exploring at the role of original web content and how its fits into the Internet Television Value Chain.

I’ll get an opportunity to explore many more of the issues around web series on a panel at Streaming Media East next week. Hope to see many of you at the conference. Enjoy the weekend!

Bobby Tulsiani | May 07, 2008, 08:22 PM
Thoughts from Digital Hollywood

I have been in LA all week attending the Digital Hollywood conference. I had the opportunity to host a panel and attend several others, and heard a few key themes emerging in all of them:

Monetizing Video: Jeff Zucker’s "broadcast dollars versus digital pennies" quote was commonly repeated at the conference, reinforcing the challenges of building significant video business online.

Original Web Series: Well it is LA, but it did seem like there was real momentum in talented individuals creating web series and drawing an audience. A studio and distribution ecosystem seems to be forming around it as well led by Vuguru, MySpace, and Bebo.

Pay TV’s Future: With increasing amounts of video online, the role of a subscription TV service (be it from cable, satellite, or telco) seemed uncertain. Different challengers, each taking a different approach, seemed poised to make inroads into the biggest screen in the home including Sezmi, ZeeVee, and Microsoft’s Media Center.

I’ll miss the last day of the conference tomorrow, but enjoyed the opportunity to attend. My tips for LA if you attend next year, bring a jacket, the weather wasn’t quite up to Spring standards and try a breakfast burrito at the Baja Hollywood.

Bobby Tulsiani | April 29, 2008, 03:11 PM
New WB Online (Didn't we do this before, In2TV?)

The WB has announced it is bringing back the brand and shows online. While I am personally excited about the opportunity to catch up on Gilmore Girls, I am less enthusiastic about the business prospects for the WB.

The new offering seems similar to the WB & AOL In2TV venture that had modest success as a stand alone destination with full length shows from the archive (Growing Pains, Perfect Strangers). Improving the library, adding Comcast, and a Facebook application may not be enough to compete in market where YouTube has 50% share.

At JupiterResearch, we believe we have entered the syndication phase of the video market. While destinations remain important part of strategies, it is equally important to take your content to consumers through syndication. We’ll be waiting for official launch, before passing judgment. But in the mean time, let’s hope the rest of Warner Brothers gets on the digital bandwagon and puts Gossip Girl back online.

Bobby Tulsiani | April 21, 2008, 02:46 PM
Google Video Redesign (Still Not a Search Engine)

Hello all! As this is my first blog post with JupiterResearch, I thought I would take the opportunity to introduce myself. I am an analyst covering Internet Video and the media industry, and will be writing our research on topics ranging from the Internet Television Value Chain to DVRs. Please do reach out if you have any topics or trends that you think Jupiter should be focusing on.

On to the video news of the day, I was interested to read about the Google Video redesign on NewTeeVee. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the team at MSN Video should be blushing. The ability to watch a video and simultaneously search was a big part of the MSN Video redesign last year.

Beyond all the other new and innovative features, what I found most interesting was the search engine still does a poor job of crawling the web’s videos. A search for “Spurs Suns NBA” still would not return any results from Saturday’s game. A search on Truveo still seems your best bet for finding relevant video.