LongTail Raises $5 Million to Take on Web Video Heavyweights
Remember the Web video boom? Most of the venture capital buzz is now directed at mobile ads, a small market that’s supposed to grow like a weed. Meanwhile, video is dominated by Google/YouTube, with everyone else way, way, way behind.
But there are still people willing to bet on video advertising and infrastructure.
Here’s LongTail Video, for instance, which has just raised $5 million in a round led by Greycroft, along with money from Cue Ball Capital.
Five-year-old LongTail provides video services and ad sales for a slew of small publishers, along with an open source video player that noncommercial sites can use for free.
That puts it in competition with bigger players like Brightcove and Ooyala, but CEO Dave Otten says he’s doing fine. He says LongTail is profitable and will come close to $10 million in revenue this year.