Brightcove: Make a 'Qik' Buck With Mobile Video

Written by Steve Donohue

Tuesday, June 23. 2009 at 01:20 PM EDT Post a comment

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Web publishers will soon be able to stream live video delivered directly from mobile phones through a deal Brightcove Inc. struck with mobile video service Qik.

Brightcove, which operates a Web video platform used by broadcasters, print publications, and businesses ranging from A&E to The New York Times, said it is integrating Qik’s mobile video capabilities with its video publishing system.

Qik and Brightcove said their partnership will help Qik users reach a wider audience and generate new revenue streams, since they will be able to add advertising to mobile video content and they'll be able to use Brightcove's platform to publish mobile video content through Brightcove video players.

The deal also allows Brightcove customers to upload mobile videos to their Brightcove accounts and to share their own videos or public videos through Brightcove by clicking "share" under the video on Quik.com.

Qik charges customers monthly license fees of $150 to use its mobile video product. The company said Tuesday that Brightcove customers have until July 15 to sign up for three free months of service. Qik will keep the entire $150 license fee that Brightcove customers will pay for the mobile product, said Brightcove spokeswoman Erika Shaffer.

Qik co-founder Bhaskar Roy wrote in a blog post about the Brightcove partnership that mobile phone owners will soon be able to use the devices to stream live video recorded with the phones through Brightcove players. That functionality will be available later this year, Shaffer said.

Brightcove has already made it possible for its customers to distribute video on Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL)'s popular iPhone and iPod Touch devices. In May, the company rolled out an iPhone video site that allows users to develop and launch Websites that can render video on an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Many Web surfers using mobile phones to upload video to Brightcove or to stream live video from phones will likely be using Nokia phones. Earlier this month, Qik signed an agreement with Nokia to pre-load its software on the manufacturer’s Nokia N97 phone.