Brightcove收购Zencoder

Brightcove的收益报告 today came with two surprises: a significant increase in revenues and an acquisition announcement. 收入增长了41%，达到21美元.本季度末亏损4美元.3 million, significantly lower than its first quarter loss. 此外，Brightcove还宣布将进行收购 Zencoder 3000万美元.

Brightcove的董事长兼首席执行官, 杰里米·阿莱尔, said the acquisition isn't just about adding a service to its existing online platform, but also as an opportunity for Brightcove的 existing and potential customers to use Zencoder as a standalone solution outside of the Brightcove Video Cloud platform.

"Zencoder not only strengthens our Video Cloud online video platform in a key technology area,阿莱尔说。, "but it also signals our expansion into standalone cloud services that developers can use as building blocks for custom systems."

The idea of a standalone service plays to Zencoder's strengths as a cloud-based encoding solution, and a Zencoder 博客 announcing the acquisition stated that the company will continue to operate as an independent entity.

"Zencoder will continue to operate as an independent service, 但我们会把它作为Brightcove的一部分,这篇博文写道. "Brightcove is a complementary company in the video space who believes in our developer focus, 致力于独立的基于api的服务, and will keep Zencoder operating largely as you see it today - only better, 我们有了更多的百家乐软件."

四个月前，Zencoder刚刚筹集了200万美元, 除以1,000客户, 只有几个和布莱特考夫的4个重叠,697客户. 的Zencoder 博客, perhaps in a bid to assure customers that Zencoder will remain independent, 向客户保证他们不必更换服务.

“Brightcove提供了一个完整的在线视频平台, 但Zencoder的用户绝对不需要切换,该博客写道. “转码仍将是一项独立的服务. Over time, don't be surprised if you see more standalone services from Brightcove."

The fact that Zencoder's 博客 forecasts other standalone services is a bit odd, but it shows a bit of the trust growing between Zencoder and Brightcove management. 除了, it may show how quickly Brightcove is attempting to diversify in to a larger market share, especially as customers look to build their own standalone video platforms and streamlined workflows.

With Zencoder becoming the Bay Area research and development arm of Brightcove, there's also the question of what happens to the Brightcove competitors that Zencoder currently powers. 根据Zencoder的博客, there will be no intentional change to Zencoder's ability to power competing services and there may even be an increase in powering competitors' platforms.

"Zencoder provides encoding services to several of Brightcove的 Video Cloud competitors,这篇博文写道. "We plan to continue to offer our services to anyone who wants high performance encoding in the cloud. We also believe that as cloud services continue to grow and mature, 这将变得越来越普遍."

Whether Brightcove is taking a gamble powering other competitors through Zencoder, or whether it sees this as a flanking maneuver that allows competitors to resell the Brightcove platform, 还有待观察. But Brightcove also gains an HTML5 video player that has several months of testing under its belt, which may be an enticement to competitors -- or select competitors' customers -- to join the Brightcove fold.