MUMBAI: Qlipso, a social feature-rich multi-party content-sharing platform with 3D avatars, webcam and voice, has announced its purchase of all the assets of Veoh, an Internet Television company delivering broadcast-quality video programming.
The purchase enables Qlipso‘s unique synchronised media sharing and socially-interactive environment to tap into Veoh‘s library of more than one million videos, TV shows, online games and other interactive content, as well as Veoh‘s tens of millions of active monthly users. Qlipso is backed by Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), an Israeli venture-capital fund.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The purchase of Veoh‘s assets by Qlipso presages a shift in the changing nature of online media consumption with users transitioning from an individual viewing experience to a multi-platform, social media experience all within the same user interface.
Qlipso says that the transaction immediately transforms it from an early-stage, pre-revenue technology start-up into a high-tech, rich-media company that boasts a powerful community prime for online advertisers. To facilitate advertising needs, Qlipso has partnered with Outrigger Media in New York for direct advertising sales.
Qlipso CEO Jon Goldman says, "By bringing together features of both Qlipso and Veoh, we are taking the best of social, multiplayer online gaming and applying that to mainstream digital content, such as videos and music, for a mainstream audience. This provides not only a terrific user experience, but also a vastly improved target audience for advertisers."
Qlipso enables users to identify themselves using 3D animating avatars, webcams or Facebook thumbnails, along with social features such as video, voice and text chat; all of which can be accessed within the same user interface, thus allowing users to view online content while having the ability to see and chat with one another. The Qlipso platform, which can be accessed entirely via Web browser, transforms media consumption into a shared social experience, both asynchronously and live with friends and family.
Qlipso supports all types of Flash-based media, including video, music, games, slideshows, presentations, widgets and other digital content from any Web site using Qlipso‘s proprietary portable media player. Qlipso also taps into Facebook Connect, allowing site users to easily share content with their friends and chat about the videos they are watching without creating an online profile.
Other qualified Web publishers will also have the opportunity to incorporate Qlipso‘s features on their own sites.
Prior to the asset purchase by Qlipso, Veoh was an established media site, founded in 2004, with tens of millions of unique monthly visitors and had raised approximately $70 million from venture capital and media investments. As part of the transaction, key former Veoh executives will help shape the new vision of Qlipso.
JVP founder and managing partner Erel Margalit says, "We are thrilled to support Qlipso, a JVP Media Studio graduate, in this strategic move. There has yet to be a significant mainstream social approach to online media sharing that parallels how people consume media in offline social settings. We believe this transaction answers that need, as it provides users with a means to socialise around their favorite media content in a relaxed and social setting."
