MetaCafe

With a Big Push From Apple, HTML5 Video Wins the Web (But Not Completely)

Peter Kafka in Media on October 27, 2010 at 4:00 am PT

No one seems to spend much time talking about the HTML5 vs. Flash video face-off anymore. For good reason: There’s not much to debate anymore.

Okay, It's Not Just Buh-Bye at Yahoo–Here Are Two Hires!

Kara Swisher in News on September 15, 2010 at 3:00 am PT

While it seems BoomTown is all about the who’s-leaving-Yahoo-now posts, it’s not so! Case in point: Here are two folks the Silicon Valley Internet giant has just hired.

MetaCafe Grabs Action Sports Without Paying a Penny

Peter Kafka in Media on September 9, 2010 at 2:33 pm PT

The online video shakeout is happening, though not as quickly as you might have thought two years ago: Instead of going away overnight, video sites that aren’t YouTube or Hulu are quietly circling each other. Everyone talks to everyone about a potential deal, but few of them actually get consummated. Here’s one that did.

Another Trailer Site? Sure: Metacafe Launches a Trailer Park.

Peter Kafka in Media on May 25, 2010 at 6:00 am PT

How do you survive in online video if you don’t have YouTube’s scale or Hulu’s content? Find a specialty. Metacafe promises to create a better version of Amazon’s IMDB.

Google and Others Fish for Acquisitions: Here's What They Might Be Looking For

Kara Swisher in News on September 2, 2009 at 10:33 am PT

Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave what he just had to know would be a much quoted comment to the Nikkei today, explicitly saying that the company had “begun seriously looking into acquisitions again.” Music to the beleaguered mergers and acquisitions market, to be sure, especially after a recent uptick from other big companies pulling out their wallets again as the impact of the econalypse subsides. According to sources, Google is working on at least a half-dozen acquisition deals, most of which are small start-ups in the online advertising and cloud-computing arenas. That would be welcome news for many.

Is Veoh the Next Big Video Site to Give Up?

Peter Kafka in Media on July 6, 2009 at 3:00 am PT

Now that Joost has given up the ghost and bailed out of the Web video portal business, who’s next? A good bet: Veoh, one of the best-funded would-be YouTubes. Multiple sources tell me the company is aggressively marketing itself to would-be buyers, and it’s asking for less than the $70 million investors like Michael Eisner have plowed into the company. Meanwhile, rival MetaCafe is looking for a “strategic investor.”

Here Comes the Video Shakeout: Joost Scales Down, CEO Mike Volpi Steps Out

Peter Kafka in Media on June 30, 2009 at 8:49 am PT

Here’s the beginning of the inevitable online video shakeout: Joost, the once-hyped video service that was supposed to rival Google’s YouTube, is restructuring to focus on “white label” services, i.e., a back end for other video players. The site is laying off the majority of its 100-plus employees, and CEO Mike Volpi is out, replaced by Matt Zelesko, who had been SVP of engineering.

Voices

Metacafe Adds a Hub for TV

Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on June 9, 2009 at 4:45 pm PT

Metacafe, seeking to reach more “media-snacking” consumers, is launching a section of its video site devoted to short clips from “Nurse Jackie,” “Weeds,” “Big Brother” and other television shows. The Palo Alto, Calif., company, which is funded by Highland Capital Partners and DAG Ventures, focuses on what it sees as a middle ground between YouTube and Hulu — short-form videos that are professionally produced or poised to go viral — said its chief executive, Erick Hachenburg, a former Electronics Arts executive.

A Search Engine With a Real Eye for Videos

Katherine Boehret in The Mossberg Solution on November 18, 2008 at 5:52 pm PT

Web video has transformed the way the Internet is used, but finding the exact clip you want can be incredibly hard. And it’s no wonder, considering that sites like YouTube conduct their hunts by looking at a clip’s “contextual metadata” — tags, video title and description — and thus can often be misled by false information.