Tag Archives: Brightcove

New York Times expands video online

NYTimes.com has developed a new video player to allow clips to be embedded in more sections of the site.

The player, which uses technology from Brightcove, will make video available on the homepage, individual article pages and on the site’s blogs, a release from the title said. The player also lets users send footage to social networks and bookmarking sites, including Digg, Facebook and LinkedIn.

As part of a video overhaul, the Times’ video library has been redesigned and a regularly updated list of ‘most viewed’ clips now features on the site.

“Demand for high-quality video is on the rise across the web from both our users and our advertisers,” said Nicholas Ascheim, vice president of product management for NYTimes.com, in the release.

“To meet this need, we have upgraded our technology, increased our production values and given video even more prominence across the site.”

According to the release, the Times produces 100 videos a month, while also featuring content from Reuters, CNBC, MSNBC and Bloggingheads.tv.

New Brightcove platform in beta

Online video firm Brightcove has launched the latest version of its service in beta.

The new technology from Brightcove, which is already used by the Telegraph.co.uk, Hearst Digital and Guardian.co.uk, will offer new ways for incorporating video players and information about video content into web pages, according to a press release from the company.

The new service – Brightcove 3 – will also enable publishers to have long-form video content on their sites.

The full version will be launched this autumn.

Brightcove pulls plug on user-generated content

User-generated content (that is non-professionally produced videos) will no longer be a feature on internet TV service Brightcove after December 18.

Writing in a blog post, Brightcove CEO Jeremy Alliare said the aspect of the site that allows users to upload and share personal videos will cease to exist from this date.

“While the consumer-facing Brightcove.TV website has been popular… it has been dwarfed by the adoption of our internet TV platform by media businesses around the world,” he said.

Some commenting on the post accuse the service as ‘selling out’, while others say this will release funds diverted to the consumer service that can be re-invested in Brightcove’s partnerships with smaller businesses.

The change by Brightcove is the same made by internet TV platform Mania TV back in October, which according to a piece on the Editors Weblog showed that professionally produced content from media organisations will win out against UGC in the long term.

Brightcove and Mania’s decisions suggest that UGC, in terms of video, may not be as significant a threat to reporters as has been previously argued. As the article on the weblog states, Mania closed its doors to UGC “because the site realized that there was little demand for UGC on what is supposed to be a site revolving around professionally produced entertainment.”

While content produced and submitted by users may provide useful supplementary material for a news story in the way of raw, first-hand footage, for more investigative and in-depth reporting, professionally produced content will still hold more value, argues the weblog.

But does the branding of a news site on video content ensure its quality or are there examples of content submitted by users that have outdone their professional rivals?