Blip.TV Introduces New Dashboard, Expands Distribution
In a news-packed morning meeting, Blip.TV announced a new online dashboard that gives content creators improved tools for monitoring and controlling their distribution, and highlighted new distribution deals that will get its content in front of even more people.
Dashboard
Blip.TV distributes its content to a variety of sources, and the upgraded dashboard includes features that allow creators to control their shows from one central location. A reorder feature, for example, lets them change the order of their shows with drag-and-drop ease, and that new order is shown on any site or RSS feed that includes an episode list.
The dashboard also shows all comments that a video has received in one location, no matter the source. Introducing the feature, Justin Day, Blip.TV's CTO, said that the comment feature would soon include Twitter integration, as well. A fast user switching feature will let creators of multiple shows easily move between them without logging out and logging back in.
The dashboard will show revenue generation for each episode of content and, perhaps most useful to video creators, will include user engagement graphs powered by TubeMogul. The graphs show user drop-offs by the second so creators can see exactly where they lost viewers or spots that viewers went back and watched again.
"This is an important step towards bringing objective measurability to the creative process while maintaining the art of Web show creation," said Brett Wilson, TubeMogul's CEO.
The dashboard will also allow advertising control, and takes advantage of a deal Blip.TV made with FreeWheel to serve ads across nearly its entire network. Advertising is optional and revenue is split 50/50 with content creators.
The improved dashboard is being rolled out slowly. Blip.TV's top 100 creators will get it immediately; additional creators will get access over the next several months.
"Our mission is to provide services of scale to the most talented independent show creators. The services we offer, which range from distribution and business development to technology and ad sales, are essential tools for any independent show creator," said Mike Hudack, Blip.TV's co-founder and CEO.
Distribution
Blip.TV has also announced improved content distribution, including partnerships with YouTube, Vimeo, and NBC. The company's reach has expanded from 50 percent of the video Internet to 80 percent, said Hudack.
The YouTube agreement lets show creators upload episodes to YouTube directly from their Blip.TV accounts. They can also include advertisement on YouTube content and share revenue.
Blip.TV surprised the audience by announcing a deal with NBC which will include the company's content on WNBC's New York Nonstop broadcast channel in New York City. New York Nonstop is a digital TV subchannel of New York City's NBC affiliate. While Blip.TV didn't announce what programming will be shown or when it would begin, it's a novel agreement for an online video company.
Blip.TV also announced a new agreement with Roku, makers of the Roku digital video player, allowing Roku owners to watch online video content on their televisions. Blip.TV will get its own channel on Roku, starting in the fall. Jim Funk, Roku's vice president of business development, was on hand to show off the scrolling interface.
With the expanded distribution, Hudack speculated that Blip.TV will be able to double its audience. If all goes well, the site could finally become profitable this year.
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