Stay tuned for official news over the next few weeks regarding Brightcove's new personalized video delivery service.
Here's how it works. Come to our new forthcoming site and browse through a tag cloud or recommendations from your friends/neighbors to find the video(s) you want. We prebuild the recommendations from your browser history using some crazy AI kung-fu. And there's a pretty neat Ajax interface that makes the discovery and ordering process a snap. Add a pint of Ben and Jerry's to your order. Perhaps a Snickers. Request the time of delivery (not date, mind you) and just kick back until a Brightcove Associate (right) pulls up astride his Brightcove-blue Cannondale, loaded video iPod in hand, and insulated messenger bag filled with munchies. To return the iPod, just drop it in a conveniently located dropbox in your neighborhood.
We're thinking of calling the service Vo7mo (pronounced vozmo). It's a very Web2 kind of a name. We feel pretty left out of the whole zeitgeist here in stodgy old Cambridge and hope the new subbrand will bring us a little visibility out west.
This strategy is clearly a winner. Here's why:
- We leapfrog the whole high-def DVD war with near real-time delivery.
- Cable VOD is still too complicated for some people, DVD rentals by mail are too slow and the local video chain store is kinda depressing.
- Three letters - CGM. Load up the iPod with your own video before you return it. We'll load that video up into the service for the rest of the users.
- Mashups. Reorder the video clips in your own playlist and watch them in any order! Share that playlist with the rest of the community when your return the iPod.
We're launching a public beta Saturday, in several select markets. If you are interested in trialing, leave a note in the comments field below.