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	<title>HipMojo.com</title>
	<link>http://watchmojo.com/web/blog</link>
	<description>Covering Online Video, Web, Search, Investing, Technology, Strategy, Investing, M&#038;A, Financing, VCs</description>
	<pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:29:08 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Is Video Egg 2008&#8217;s Bolt.com?</title>
		<link>http://watchmojo.com/web/blog/index.php/2008/01/28/is-video-egg-2008s-boltcom/</link>
		<comments>http://watchmojo.com/web/blog/index.php/2008/01/28/is-video-egg-2008s-boltcom/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:46:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ashkan Karbasfrooshan</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Internet &#038; Web]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Facebook.com]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Online Advertising]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Video Egg]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[WPP]]></category>
<category>Facebook.com</category><category>Internet &amp;#038; Web</category><category>Online Advertising</category><category>Social Networking</category><category>Video</category><category>Video Egg</category><category>WPP</category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://watchmojo.com/web/blog/index.php/2008/01/28/is-video-egg-2008s-boltcom/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Video Egg is one of the many companies that has raised oodles of money: by last count, it had closed a Series D round raising money from WPP.  I had looked into Video Egg&#8217;s platform last year and balked on them for the simple reason that they were not set up to accept 16&#215;9 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Video Egg is one of the many companies that has raised oodles of money: by last count, it had closed a Series D round raising money from WPP.  I had looked into Video Egg&#8217;s platform last year and balked on them for the simple reason that they were not set up to accept 16&#215;9 video content.  I am sure they do now, but it was too late for me, as we were relaunching on August 19 2007 and we publish in 16&#215;9 (instead of 4&#215;3).</p>
<p>Anyway, instead of focusing on that - and a plethora of other things that content producers wanted - Video Egg took a few bizarre turns, doubling up on user-generated content (Video Egg powers a lot of social networking sites that run video content that most advertisers are not interested in) and then diving deep down into social media by billing itself as a Facebook ad network.</p>
<p>I gagged, but did not say anything.  <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/13/videoegg-suddenly-theyre-a-facebook-ad-network/" target="_blank">Others</a> were not as kind.</p>
<p>Today Video Egg bragged about generating a whopping $1.5M over the past five months, as <a href="http://mashable.com/2008/01/28/facebook-applications-revenue/" target="_blank">Mashable</a> points out, that is a pittance relative to News Corp.&#8217;s Fox Interactive Media, who powered on MySpace&#8217;s awesome growth will do some $800M in revenue this year (disclaimer: WatchMojo.com is a content provider on MySpace TV).</p>
<p>What does this all suggest?  Don&#8217;t jump of freaking bandwagons!</p>
<p>The Facebook bandwagon has been on turbo and it&#8217;s not surprising to see so many companies position themselves for it, but despite Video Egg&#8217;s best efforts, the effort only generated $1.5M.  Had they focused more on the real deal (ie. video) they would have done better.</p>
<p>Surprising to see big-talking VCs take their eye off the ball and focus on the low hanging fruit that is social networks&#8217; real estate&#8230; the real money is in video advertising on professionally produced video content for the Web.  But don&#8217;t take it from me, check out the <a href="http://watchmojo.com/web/blog/index.php/2007/12/14/hype-watch-social-media-revenues-a-tiny-sliver-of-online-advertising-pie/" target="_blank">stats</a>.</p>
<p>If indeed Video Egg&#8217;s Facebook-play is a mere sliver of their whole business (which I suspect it is) then they need to get over the flavor <em>du jour</em> strategy and drive that point home, otherwise, Video Egg&#8217;s competitors will eat their lunch.</p>
<p>Either way, Video Egg is backed by some of the smartest money out there, and the management team is pretty smart too, but am I the only one who is thinking of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolt_(website)" target="_blank">Bolt.com</a>?  Bolt.com was a media company leading a strong vertical, then it suffered from YouTube envy (ie. got greedy) and dived into user-generated content.  Problem was Bolt.com got sued, sold to GoFish, that went nowhere (cause GoFish lost 90% of its value) and today Bolt.com is a mere flash in the pan.</p>
<p>Video Egg probably won&#8217;t fare so bad, and in fact, should do well&#8230; but they should recognize what the real opportunity is and drop the Facebook envy.</p>
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