LongTail Video Acquires Video Management Service, Bits on the Run
Combines World's Most Popular Open Source Video Player With Self-Serve Video Platform
New York(26 Apr 2010)
LongTail Video, creators of the popular open source Flash video player, the JW Player, acquired Bits on the Run, a leading self-serve online video management service. The acquisition solidifies LongTail's lead in providing publishers with affordable, easy-to-use online video tools to manage, deliver and monetize their video assets.
"We are very excited to join forces with Bits on the Run," said Dave Otten, co-founder and CEO of LongTail Video, "Since founding LongTail, we have focused on combining low-cost, simple-to-use video products with outstanding customer support. Bits on the Run follows a similar strategy which makes this acquisition a perfect match."
Founded by Jeroen Wijering, the creator of the JW Player, Bits on the Run is a powerful and flexible software-as-a-service (SaaS) video management system. With Bits on the Run, Web publishers can syndicate content to any web-based, mobile or set-top platform. Its flexible API can integrate with any CMS, website, desktop application or online service, making it publisher-friendly. In addition, Bits on the Run offers a unique pay-as-you-go pricing model that allows users to pay for only what they use, with no on-going contractual commitments. As a result, publishers can receive enterprise-level video delivery at a fraction of the cost of other offerings.
"With Bits on the Run, LongTail Video is able to offer an end-to-end video solution to the millions of web publishers who already use the JW Player and other LongTail products," said Jeroen Wijering. "The early results are encouraging. Since closing the transaction, we have already signed up 25,000 new users to Bits on the Run."
Today, customers can use the JW Player and the AdSolution, LongTail's self-serve video ad delivery service, within the Bits on the Run video management system. In addition, Bits on the Run customers can easily add any of the hundreds of plugins and skins within LongTail's AddOns library to customize their JW Player's look and functionality. Moving forward, the combined company intends on tightly integrating Bits on the Run with its existing product suite.
Since its founding in 2007, LongTail Video products have become widely adopted among websites. LongTail Video's flagship product, the JW Player, is active on over one million websites and streams billions of videos each month. It is used by a diverse group of publishers, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to individual bloggers. AddOns, a library of plugins and skins contributed by LongTail's community of developers that enable publishers to customize their JW Player, are used by over 300,000 sites; and the AdSolution, LongTail's stand-alone, self-serve video ad serving system, serves over 200 million in-stream ad impressions each month to thousands of websites.
"LongTail Video has quietly built a very large and engaged user base by creating affordable, easy-to-use products," said Dave Otten, "We think the Bits on the Run acquisition uniquely positions the company to capitalize on that success and the growth of online video."
LongTail Video is headquartered in New York City with a developer team based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. For more information, see www.longtailvideo.com or contact Sylvia Paull at whoisylvia@aol.com or at 510.388.8932.