Blip.tv Adds YouTube, NBC Local, Roku Distribution

Written by Ryan Lawler

Tuesday, July 28. 2009 at 03:25 PM EDT 1 comment

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Online video company Blip.tv added a whole new set of distribution partners today, giving its content providers broader syndication both online and in consumer living rooms.

At a press conference this morning, Blip announced new partnerships with YouTube Inc. and Vimeo LLC that will help its content partners more easily distribute and monetize their video content on the Web.

Blip CEO Mike Hudack says distribution is the key to the company's value proposition. According to Hudack, only about 4 percent or 5 percent of video views from Blip content providers happen on the company's site; the rest of the views happen on partner distribution platforms such as iTunes, AOL Video, and MSN Video.

"Before today, Blip reached about half of all the video on the Internet," Hudack said. "Today, we probably reach about 80 percent."

By striking the deals, Blip provides one-click access to content owners, to distribute to YouTube and Vimeo. But more importantly, the deals will enable Blip's content providers to take advertising with them, increasing their ability to make money off that content.

Blip also announced a partnership with FreeWheel Media Inc., which will provide the advertising technology to distribute ads with the videos when they appear on third-party distribution points.

"Not only do we want to make it easy for content creators to send content around the Web, but we want to make it easy for them to send advertising around the Web as well," said Blip COO Dina Kaplan.

While Blip announced deals that would increase distribution on the Web, the company also found ways to get its content into consumer living rooms, by partnering with broadband set-top box manufacturer Roku and NBC Local Media New York.

As part of the Roku deal, Blip content creators will soon be able to choose to make their videos available through the Roku player. Blip.tv will get its own channel on the digital set-top box, alongside existing Roku content partners Netflix and Amazon Video on Demand.

The partnership with NBC Local Media, on the other hand, opens up a distribution outlet for Blip content to appear on linear television. The deal will put selected Blip programming on NBC's NY Nonstop broadcast channel in New York City.

"We're on our way to creating an economy where your talent, determination, and hard work are a better determination of your success than who you know," Hudack said.

The new partnerships drastically increase Blip's distribution outlets. The company can already distribute content to iTunes, AOL Video, MSN Video, Blinkx, Facebook, Twitter, Sony Bravia televisions with Bravia Internet Video Link, TiVo, Verizon FiOS Video On Demand, iPhones, and the Internet Archive.

While the big news was Blip's new distribution deals, the company also announced that it was rolling out a new dashboard, and would use TubeMogul for its video analytics.