Brightcove is a cloud-based, online video streaming platform powering live and video-on-demand experiences for some of the world’s leading broadcasters, publishers, and brands.
As a pioneer in video technology, Brightcove is well placed to provide an insight into consumers’ behavior during this period as well as an informed opinion on the future of the video streaming industry.
Subhasish Gupta, Managing Director, Brightcove in an exclusive chat with Medianews4U speaks on the challenges of the pandemic, their main growth factors, the surge of OTT, and the way forward…
How has it been for Brightcove in the past year, the challenges of the pandemic and how did you navigate through it?
The past year has been an interesting journey for us, both globally and in India. The pandemic made businesses prioritize digital strategies at an accelerated pace. In the OTT space specifically, the market now hosts a lot of options and that has made differentiation important and central to business strategy across industries. While earlier streaming was more focused on sectors like media and entertainment or sports, today any and every business looks at video as a strong, scalable cloud platform to navigate the post-pandemic world.
What have been the main growth factors for Brightcove and services in the past few years?
We have always taken an overall consultative approach because video as a subject matter is not very simple. When you deploy video as a part of your enterprise strategy – and this may be e-learning, video tech, or e-commerce – it becomes a complex subject matter. That makes it imperative for us to provide a comprehensive offering to our prospective customers which have been a major contributor to business growth in the past one and a half years.
What are the business solutions offered by Brightcove for your partners and how do they adopt these solutions?
We recently launched Brightcove Marketing Studio as part of our larger product suite. This new addition and its unique features enable the customer to get a clearer picture of video performance via video assets and analytical tools. Especially through a pandemic lens, customers who have moved to a virtual platform for internal communication and the online events segment form major business focus areas here. That is in addition to another important component that has evolved in the enterprise segment – training and development.
What was the strategy behind launching Corp TV and Marketing Studio? What is the technology behind these two offerings?
BrightcoveCorpTV and Marketing Studio include some of our flagship products when it comes to video cloud platforms to offer scalability, reliability, and customization to our customers. It took years of research and development to build strong integration capabilities employing technologies like AI and ML to achieve the end result. Since many large firms tend to host many video assets across functions like HR, product marketing, or sales, CorpTV not only enables the optimization but also the assimilation of these video assets. Both offerings will continue to evolve to changing customer needs to ensure complete optimization of it.
It has been a boom time for OTT thanks to the pandemic and the WFH, your thoughts?
The pandemic has increased viewership for OTT, and it has become central to families who spend time-consuming content together. There is a huge amount of innovation taking place, and that along with content is driving the future of OTT in India. In the next year, there is going to be a lot of regionalization and what will be key to monetization is the ability for these platforms to create differentiated content that’s both original and local to India’s diverse interests and preferences.
What are the trends and developments you are witnessing in India and globally?
A distinct new normal phenomenon is the hybrid model. In the post-pandemic scenario, business success will depend on the ability to prioritize digital strategies and function virtually with a strong mix of online platforms to connect with customers. Internet penetration in developing countries like India, Indonesia, and Malaysia is also aiding this transformation. In fact, mobile has become central to not only individuals but also businesses.
How are you seeing the growth of regional content on OTT and has OTT now reached out to all demographics and geographies in India?
Regional content on OTT is penetrating well in the country. We have Studio Mojo that’s focused on structuring its business and being innovative to capture the Indian market. That goes to show the potential of the market and the scope to monetize. For one, Maharashtra’s witnessing a lot of OTT players coming up and creating content ranging across subject matters and formats. A key trend of course remains the movement from long-format content to 15-20 minutes short stories and snackable content.
What are Brightcove’s expansion plans in the next 2 years?
As market leaders, our focus is on driving digital video technology adoption in the US and European markets. In India, we have been focused on building the market and creating demand for it. Beyond OTT, EdTech is a huge market for us, and the relevance and acceptance of video cloud in this segment is well known. Enterprise is going to be the next big thing across e-commerce, retail, or even fashion and lifestyle and that’s what will be in focus for us over the next 1-3 years.
