ON24.com Trims Staff to Expand Focus

ON24.com (www.on24.com), a provider of streaming newscasts, announced that it is reducing its staff by about 20% in the areas of content and marketing. The staff reductions amounted to 16 of the 106 total staff that ON24 employs. A source within ON24, indicated that these layoffs included newcasters, journalists and production specialists.

ON24 emphasizes, however, that it is continuing to grow and will even expand in other areas. The areas targeted for expansion are sales, business development, engineering and product groups.

John Einstoss, a spokesperson for ON24, indicated that the staff cuts and planned expansion are in response to market realities. The company plans to leverage its streaming infrastructure to sell webcasting services to corporations. Einstoss emphasized that ON24 is not abandoning its journalistic goals, but is attempting to branch out during the adoption phase.

ON24 can provide a personalized streaming newscast, which ON24 has branded, the Personalcast. The company creates original content, but also gathers content from text news sites to be transformed into audio or video broadcasts.

Einstoss mentioned that in addition to generating revenue through its ASP operations, the company gathers substantial revenue by offering sponsored segments. ON24 is a private company, but Einstoss indicated that it is financially set for a while.