Brightcove Accelerates Global Expansion with Major Customer Wins in Japan
Leading Japanese media companies and marketers choose Brightcove platform for online video initiatives
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 24, 2009 - Brightcove Inc., the leading online video platform, today announced a series of major customer wins in Japan, including Tokyo Broadcasting System, Inc., Sony Music Network Inc., Asahi Breweries Group, Shueisha Publishing Co., Ltd., and Orange Page Inc. The rapid adoption of the company's platform in Japan continues to accelerate Brightcove's global expansion and build on a customer base that includes leading media companies and marketers across North America and Europe.
"Japan is a sophisticated and fast-growing online video market," said Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove chairman and chief executive officer. "Brightcove's growth in Japan is an important contributor to our worldwide expansion. We are very excited to see the wide-ranging adoption of our online video platform among some of Japan's most well-known and highly-respected media businesses and brand marketers."
Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) is one of Japan's leading commercial broadcasters. The company operates two of the most extensive commercial broadcasting networks in Japan, with 28 TV stations affiliated with the Japan News Network and 34 radio stations affiliated with the Japan Radio Network. TBS has selected the Brightcove online video platform to deliver high quality, ad-supported, on-demand video content to its growing online audience for a limited trial for the first ever primetime time-shifted TV show in Japan. The initiative will enable TBS to deepen audience engagement on the Web, drive broadcast tune-in, and assess monetization opportunities through online video advertising.
Asahi Breweries Group, the largest beer brewery in Japan, is using the Brightcove platform to develop direct-to-consumer, branded online video experiences that showcase its library of popular television commercials. With Brightcove, Asahi is leveraging its growing library to develop an online audience network to promote its popular brands across the Web.
Building on a long-time relationship with Sony Music Entertainment in North America and Europe, Brightcove will now power online video content for Sony Music Network Japan. The music entertainment leader will leverage Brightcove to deliver high quality video content across its network of award-winning artist and label websites. Fans will now be able to watch their favorite music videos, artist interviews, performances and "behind the scenes" footage, as well as easily share content with friends.
Shueisha Publishing, a major entertainment magazine publisher headquartered in Tokyo, is leveraging Brightcove for its newly launched webUOMO TV, a portal developed in conjunction with Shueisha Publishing's UOMO, a men's fashion and lifestyle magazine. The new webUOMO TV will feature branded, advertising-supported, original video content showcasing the latest in fashion trends for UOMO's target male market.
Orange Page net, another major magazine publisher in Japan, recently launched Kitchen TV on the Brightcove platform. The site showcases branded, high quality video content to give visitors a firsthand look at the latest in cooking trends, recipes and tips hosted by popular cooking personalities. With the help of Brightcove, video content can be uploaded easily and distributed widely across the Orange Page network.
Brightcove established its majority-owned subsidiary in Japan in 2008 with $4.9 million in new investment from Brightcove Inc. and four market-leading Japanese strategic partners: Dentsu, Inc., J-Stream, Inc., transcosmos, Inc. (transcosmos), and Cyber Communications, Inc. (CCI). Last year, Web TV distribution giant, PRESENTCAST, selected Brightcove for gorin.jp, the exclusive online video portal in Japan for coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. gorin.jp is backed by all of Japan's commercial television broadcasters. Since then, Brightcove has continued to help PRESENTCAST launch a number of online video properties, including the World Snowboarding Championship's X-Trail JAM and the Inter-High School Football Championship.
About Brightcove
Brightcove is an online video platform. Media companies, businesses and organizations worldwide use Brightcove to publish and distribute video on the Web. Founded in 2004, Brightcove is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business with offices across North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.brightcove.com.
Press Contacts
North America
Erika Shaffer
SutherlandGold Group for Brightcove
206-972-5514
erika@sutherlandgold.com
Japan
Rie Kubota
LBS Co., Ltd. for Brightcove
+81 3 3769 1351
rkubota@lbs.co.jp
Europe
Stephen Orr
AxiCom for Brightcove
+44 20 8392 4056
stephen.orr@axicom.com
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