Yahoo! Japan and Ooyala Form Strategic Partnership to Bring Professional Video to 80 Million Users in Japan
Leading Japanese Destination Site and Video Technology Leader Ink Broad Technology and Distribution Agreement
Mountain View, CA and Tokyo(22 Feb 2011)
Ooyala, Inc., www.ooyala.com, a leader in online video technology, and Yahoo! Japan Corporation, the country's largest and fastest growing Internet destination, today announced they have entered into a strategic technology and distribution agreement that will bring professional video to the world's second largest population of Internet users.
Through the multi-year agreement, Ooyala and Yahoo! Japan will collaborate on a broad-scale initiative to optimize business results for Japanese broadcasters, publishers, advertisers and content creators. Yahoo! Japan will standardize on Ooyala technology across all of its properties for initiatives such as cross-platform video delivery, subscription and advertising services. With Ooyala, Yahoo! Japan will deliver rich video experiences on connected PCs, smart phones, tablets and televisions in the Japanese market. Additionally, Yahoo! Japan will both sell Ooyala video technology and provide support for thousands of media publishers and brand marketers that use Ooyala.
Masahiro Inoue, CEO and President, Yahoo! Japan said, "Yahoo! Japan is very happy to announce the joint business relationship with Ooyala. The Internet is moving from the world of text and images to the world of video. With our new relationship with Ooyala, I hope that we can provide our enterprise and end-user customers with rich Internet experiences, and contribute to the advancement of the Internet."
Yahoo! Japan serves approximately 80 million unique users, or approximately 60 percent of all Internet traffic in Japan. Additionally, Yahoo! Japan serves approximately 40 percent of the online video in Japan. The partnership gives Ooyala access to Japan's largest and most rapidly expanding Internet property. It paves the way for rapid evolution of online video delivery, analysis and monetization in that market.
"Yahoo! Japan is an innovative leader in digital media," said Jay Fulcher, CEO of Ooyala. "Our partnership advances video delivery and monetization in Japan and provides new opportunities for advertisers and content publishers. Through the strategic use of video, Yahoo! Japan will become a new kind of online broadcaster and will deliver video content across a wide range of connected devices to a large population of consumers. We are honored to partner with Yahoo! Japan and look forward to working with this leader to drive innovation and advance online video broadcasting in this important market."
According to comScore, 60.4 million Japanese adults watch online video at least once a month with an average of more than 12.5 hours of video viewing each.1 Forrester Research reports: "Japan's online community is wired for rich media. Among adults who use the Internet in Japan, 94% have broadband in the home, 96% have at least one mobile phone, and 81% have at least one Internet-capable mobile phone." 2 Additionally, Forrester estimates that online video consumption will reach 106 million users in Japan by 2013.3
The multi-year partnership paves the way for Ooyala and Yahoo! Japan to collaborate on future video innovation in the rapidly growing Japanese market.
About Yahoo! Japan
Yahoo! Japan Corporation operates Yahoo! Japan, a search engine and online information portal. The company is based in Tokyo. Japanese telecommunications and web company SoftBank is Yahoo! Japan's majority owner and the company is affiliated with US-based Yahoo!. Yahoo! Yahoo! Japan operates in a variety of divisions, including auction services, media development, Yahoo! BB broadband services, shopping and general business solutions. Users can also register for Yahoo! e-mail, personalized web pages, a social network (Yahoo! Days) and access to message boards.
About Ooyala
Ooyala is the leader in online video management, analytics and monetization. With Ooyala's comprehensive online platform, video publishers gain the incredibly detailed viewer insights that drive deeper video engagement and better earnings. Ooyala's 500+ customers include global media companies and web marketers like Endemol, Fremantle Media, Telegraph Media, Glam Media, Vans, and Vice Magazine. Visit Ooyala and follow @Ooyala on Twitter.