Facebook Acquires Vidpresso for its Interactive Technology
Facebook has acquired Vidpresso, a small company based in Ogden, Utah that adds interactive elements to videos. It's more correct, though, to say Facebook acqui-hired the seven-person team, since Facebook is clearly not interested in the company, just the tech behind it. Vidpresso works with broadcasters and content owners to add interactive elements like polls and comments in their videos on Facebook, YouTube, and other video platforms. By integrating Vidpresso's tech, Facebook will let small businesses and individual creators harness the same interactive elements that the big players do.
Neither company divulged the purchase price, but TechCrunch points out Vidpresso had raised only $120,000 in seed capital, plus some additional angel funding. Vidpresso had previously expressed a desire to not sell out, so maybe Facebook went deep.
For existing Vidpresso clients, which include BuzzFeed, Turner Sports, and Nasdaq, nothing will change, expect that they'll no longer have to pay for the service.
"This gives us the best opportunity to accelerate our vision and offer a simple way for creators, publishers, and broadcasters to use social media in live video at a high quality level," a note on Vidpresso's site says. "We've always wanted to build tools for everyone to create interactive live video experiences."
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