The above video interview is from the ANA TV & Everything Video Forum.
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A few weeks ago, while rumors were swirling about Youtube possibly acquiring Next New Networks, I sat down with Diane DeCordova, SVP Brand Sales at Next New Networks, at the ANA TV and Everything Video Forum in NYC (sponsored by Youtube).
A week later the acquisition became official.
Next New Networks had raised $26 million at the time of the acquisition. The sale price was about double that ($50 million). If Next New Networks has 200 million views on a monthly basis (50 million uniques), that translates to a sale price of 2 cents per 2011 view, never mind 2012 – 2015 views which, one would assume, will continue to grow from the current 200 million monthly run rate.
I always viewed Next New Networks as one of the juggernauts of episodic online video. So it’s sort of disheartening that the company they built sold for….$50 million. It seems that Youtube is mainly acquiring the talent (shout out to Tom Small and Ben Relles), and that the projected revenue from 200 million monthly views for premium online video content is, well, negligible. Not to mention the value of 6 million Youtube subscribers.
If video is the next hot new thing, along with mobile and group shopping, what does it say when the poster child for online video production is acquired for 2x what it raised in outside financing?
It leaves me sort of, well…sad.
Next thing you know, the leading Online Video Platform (OVP), Brightcove will sell for 2x money raised to date. Oh, wait, we can all see that one coming already…
