If content is King, then distribution of that content is King Kong, says Grab Media’s CEO Alvin Bowles.
Dulles, VA-based Grab Media, formerly Grab Networks, evolved from  from the merger of Anystream and Voxant in September of 2008.
Grab Media is a leading premium video distribution company. It connects premium video content from a wide collection of professional sources and brand-name advertisers to ideal viewers. Marketers rely on Grab Media to position their message in front of large-scale, engaged audiences, so they can focus on brand promotion.
The company is one of 60 innovative firms presenting to investors representing billions in capital at the Southeast Venture Conference today (Feb. 29) and tomorrow (March 1) at Tysons Corner, VA. Bowles says the company is interested in strategic relationships, not just raising growth capital. “We can go bigger,” he says.
The 32-employee company has an overall audience 350 million video views by 27 million uniques a month from 80 to 100 million short video streams and was cited as the second fastest growing online video firm by comScore last year.
The company gets video content from180 media firms such as Martha Stewart, Yahoo and Conde Nast. It uses only professionally produced short videos – no user created content.
It provides 140,000 Web sites with a one-line of code video player to stream relevant content with advertising from movie firms, HBO, and other clients. “We stream the right content on the right site next to the right advertising,” Bowles says. It shares revenue from the advertising with the video producers and the publishers.
The whole concept is similar to TV syndication of shows, in which a station licenses content and sells advertising against it.
“The value proposition is about engagement, selling contextual relevance, behaviorial targeting and psychographic profiling,” Bowles says. Any ordinary content – sports, weather, news – is enhanced by video, he notes.
No squirrels on skates
He emphasizes that he’s not talking about “The squirrel on skates running across your living room” variety of user produced videos. “People will watch professionally produced video,” he says. “Whether they’re video-snacking or watching full-length shows.”
That’s why Google’s YouTube, Netflix, and others are launching original content channels.
It’s a huge market – estimated at $3 billion a year, with great growth potential, particularly in mobile. “Mobile is the only medium where there is more ad demand for quality content than there is supply.”
Only a few people are doing video the right way, Bowles says. What is the right way?
“Give people what they want, when they want it.”
Previously on the TechJournal:
Grab Networks wraps up $12M funding
Anystream merges with Voxant
