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tag videogram

From tech startup to media company: Videogram evolves, with smart TV on the horizon

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We’ve written about Cinemacraft’s Videogram solution a few times before here on The Bridge. It is a player that lies of top of existing web video, giving a visual paneled preview of different portions of that video. The startup received investment from 500 Startups, and this year began working with Turner Broadcasting by way of its 12-week Media Camp, and subsequently when it became an investor as well. Founder Sandeep Casi explained to me that although they started out strictly as a technology company, they have now grown to become more of a media company. And not just any media company either. Recently they were one of five TVOT nominees for the best TV and video user interface / user experience, right alongside the likes of Netflix, Dish Network, and Showtime Network. They’re building for the future too, announcing Leap Motion integration today. Much of their recent progress, says Sandeep, has come about thanks to the alliance with Turner. “Turner has been fantastic,” he explains. He says that the connection with Turner really helped them get official embed status for Twitter, their player now white-listed for viewing. What that means is that now Videogram clips can be shared in the…

videogram-leap
Videogram is now Leap Motion enabled

We’ve written about Cinemacraft’s Videogram solution a few times before here on The Bridge. It is a player that lies of top of existing web video, giving a visual paneled preview of different portions of that video. The startup received investment from 500 Startups, and this year began working with Turner Broadcasting by way of its 12-week Media Camp, and subsequently when it became an investor as well. Founder Sandeep Casi explained to me that although they started out strictly as a technology company, they have now grown to become more of a media company.

And not just any media company either. Recently they were one of five TVOT nominees for the best TV and video user interface / user experience, right alongside the likes of Netflix, Dish Network, and Showtime Network. They’re building for the future too, announcing Leap Motion integration today. Much of their recent progress, says Sandeep, has come about thanks to the alliance with Turner.

“Turner has been fantastic,” he explains. He says that the connection with Turner really helped them get official embed status for Twitter, their player now white-listed for viewing. What that means is that now Videogram clips can be shared in the Twitterstream, and function as they normally would.

Having made solid progress with presentation of video on the web, Sandeep is looking ahead to what he says was his vision all along: Television. He’d like to make electronic program guides more interactive, and Videogram can be a pathway to doing that. By integrating their service into smart TVs, not only do you bring the paneled functionality of Videogram, but you also bring the capability to socially share portions of television shows in a more granular manner via the sharing function on those panels. You can check out some Videogram Smart TV interfaces here if you’d like to learn more.

smart-tv-office

As for the business side of things, Videogram panels also enable banner ad placement within videos for advertisers. Sandeep showed me an example using an NBA clip (see below), where panels visually previewed highlights of a Knicks game, with one panel showing a banner ad for a basketball shoe. That banner, when clicked, gave an option to buy via the Nike website [1]. Obviously this sort of hyper-relevant product placement holds a lot of potential in the video advertising space, especially for TV. Sandeep explains:

We’re trying to make the industry think about engagement, not views. For advertisers this is important, because they now know their video is being eyeballed.

When I talked with Sandeep, he showed me a number of Videogram mockups and samples for a wide range of notable entertainment properties. To be honest, it was hard to keep up with which companies were already clients, and which ones were just mockups. But it’s hard not to admire Videogram having the confidence to overhaul a given company’s online video presence on spec, and take it to their offices to sell them on its potential. Sandeep adds:

This is our business development scheme. This is what we do. And I really can’t believe that more startups don’t do it. Clients get it immediately. We give them a link, and they can convince internally with that link.

Videogram’s iOS app has come a long was as well, recently getting an upgrade that lets users capture multiple clips, combining them as a composite video. This is a function we see in many video apps these days, but the technique lends itself especially well to Videogram since different clips could be represented by different panel previews.

Cinemacraft has already deployed Videogram across a number of properties, including CBS, ABC, FOX , Sony, and even in India’s Bollywood. I expect NTT group will also be assisting the company to reel in some big fish here in Japan as well. I’m told that their service has grown in popularity in Korea as well, so I look forward to hearing news from that front too.


  1. There’s also a play button, so buy link appears to be not too intrusive.  ↩

Cinemacraft raises $1.5M in funding, expands team in Tokyo and LA

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Tokyo-based media startup Cinemacraft has announced today that it has closed a $1.5 million round of funding from NTT Docomo Ventures, Turner Broadcasting’s Media Camp, and 500 Startups. We have previously featured Cinemacraft’s primary offering Videogram, a clever thumbnailed display that gives users visual previews of the various parts of a video. Check out the Runner Runner trailer below for an example of how it works. It feels good to reach market validation but work is not over yet. We’re just getting started The new funds will be used to expand the team, adding three new engineers to the core team in Tokyo, which will continue to be Cinemacraft’s engineering center. Founder Sandeep Casi tells us that they are currently hiring developers (iOS, Android, HTML5, Java/JSP) and if anyone would like to apply they can do so here. Including Casi, the team is still a lean six people in total, with two additions in Los Angeles for business development and operations. Readers may recall back in June when we mentioned that the startup had been admitted into Turner Broadcasting’s Media Camp. Founder Sandeep Casi notes how important that experience was for him: [It] was awesome. We had traction from Hollywood…

videogram-logo

Tokyo-based media startup Cinemacraft has announced today that it has closed a $1.5 million round of funding from NTT Docomo Ventures, Turner Broadcasting’s Media Camp, and 500 Startups.

We have previously featured Cinemacraft’s primary offering Videogram, a clever thumbnailed display that gives users visual previews of the various parts of a video. Check out the Runner Runner trailer below for an example of how it works.

It feels good to reach market validation but work is not over yet. We’re just getting started

The new funds will be used to expand the team, adding three new engineers to the core team in Tokyo, which will continue to be Cinemacraft’s engineering center. Founder Sandeep Casi tells us that they are currently hiring developers (iOS, Android, HTML5, Java/JSP) and if anyone would like to apply they can do so here. Including Casi, the team is still a lean six people in total, with two additions in Los Angeles for business development and operations.

Readers may recall back in June when we mentioned that the startup had been admitted into Turner Broadcasting’s Media Camp. Founder Sandeep Casi notes how important that experience was for him:

[It] was awesome. We had traction from Hollywood going into Media Camp. We had a product that was market ready and what the Media Camp did was amplify our execution. Now it is about scaling. Getting the right hires in place is the next major priority. It feels good to reach market validation but work is not over yet. We’re just getting started.

So what lies ahead for Cinemacraft? Casi adds that they are already deploying their product in the US with some large entities like Fox, Turner, and Capitol Records. They will also be working with NTT group here in Japan.

This new round brings the startups total amount of funds raised to $2 million.

Cinemacraft admitted into Turner Broadcasting’s Media Camp

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Cinemacraft, the Tokyo/Silicon Valley-based startup which was recently admitted to the 500 Startups incubator program in San Francisco, will now also get a boost from Turner Broadcasting. The young company was one of five technology companies admitted into Turner’s 2013 Media Camp, a 12-week program that helps entrepreneurs build media businesses. As you may recall, Cinemacraft has been developing its Videogram technology, which is a new way of presenting videos with attractive thumbnailed panels. The platform was recently used by pop star Jennifer Lopez to release her new single Live It Up. But Cinemacraft has been working on other new technologies as well, including a picture presentation that uses a similar approach. Its recently released Qixshr platform displays user photos in a sort of stained glass presentation. You can check out an example of that sort of layout below. The other startups admitted to the media camp are Tomorrowish, ChannelMeter, Meograph, and Plumzi. They’ll all get to work with experienced television and film executives, and “get an opportunity to commercialize their business” to Turner’s many properties. Turner Broadcasting’s VP of Emerging Technology, Balaji Gopinath, noted in the announcement: We see great underlying technologies and unique business models with these five…

turner-media-camp

Cinemacraft, the Tokyo/Silicon Valley-based startup which was recently admitted to the 500 Startups incubator program in San Francisco, will now also get a boost from Turner Broadcasting. The young company was one of five technology companies admitted into Turner’s 2013 Media Camp, a 12-week program that helps entrepreneurs build media businesses.

As you may recall, Cinemacraft has been developing its Videogram technology, which is a new way of presenting videos with attractive thumbnailed panels. The platform was recently used by pop star Jennifer Lopez to release her new single Live It Up.

But Cinemacraft has been working on other new technologies as well, including a picture presentation that uses a similar approach. Its recently released Qixshr platform displays user photos in a sort of stained glass presentation. You can check out an example of that sort of layout below.

The other startups admitted to the media camp are Tomorrowish, ChannelMeter, Meograph, and Plumzi. They’ll all get to work with experienced television and film executives, and “get an opportunity to commercialize their business” to Turner’s many properties. Turner Broadcasting’s VP of Emerging Technology, Balaji Gopinath, noted in the announcement:

We see great underlying technologies and unique business models with these five early-stage companies and look forward to working with them on defining how technology is continuing to evolve the entertainment industry.

It’s another big step for Sandeep Casi and Cinemacraft, who have been making very solid progress over the past six months.

qishr-athletes
Championship athletes on Qixshr

More than just eye candy: Videogram brings added value for video publishers

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Recently Tokyo-based CinemaCraft, the startup company behind the clever paneled video presentation service Videogram, released its iOS application. The app delivers the same slick thumbnail panel interface that we previously saw from the Videogram web app, allowing users to understand at a glance what kind of content a given video contains. In terms of being an entertainment destination, the Videogram app has lots of fun content from providers like Hulu, Discovery Channel, Funny or Die, and even a Videogram picks section. But what I find most interesting about the service is the advantage that it holds for publishers, by measuring which thumbnails are the most active, and then automatically regenerating the tiled presentation based on that feedback. Once popular thumbnails are identified, publishers can then run ads next to them if they choose, thus optimizing the chances that a user might see them. CinemaCraft’s CEO Sandeep Casi told us a little more about this feature: The trending thumbnail can change on a daily/weekly basis depending on the user engagement. The pre-roll/mid-roll will move to the trending thumbnail such that there is some amount of assurance that ads will be consumed. This is much better than throwing an ad at the…

videogram-logo

Recently Tokyo-based CinemaCraft, the startup company behind the clever paneled video presentation service Videogram, released its iOS application. The app delivers the same slick thumbnail panel interface that we previously saw from the Videogram web app, allowing users to understand at a glance what kind of content a given video contains.

In terms of being an entertainment destination, the Videogram app has lots of fun content from providers like Hulu, Discovery Channel, Funny or Die, and even a Videogram picks section. But what I find most interesting about the service is the advantage that it holds for publishers, by measuring which thumbnails are the most active, and then automatically regenerating the tiled presentation based on that feedback.

Once popular thumbnails are identified, publishers can then run ads next to them if they choose, thus optimizing the chances that a user might see them. CinemaCraft’s CEO Sandeep Casi told us a little more about this feature:

The trending thumbnail can change on a daily/weekly basis depending on the user engagement. The pre-roll/mid-roll will move to the trending thumbnail such that there is some amount of assurance that ads will be consumed. This is much better than throwing an ad at the start of the video and hoping that consumer will not skip thought it.

Sandeep says me that his company also offers a white label Videogram solution which publishers can use on their own sites. And I expect this will be one of the most promising aspects of Videogram’s business. I understand that more developments are coming in the near future for the startup, so stay tuned for more on that front.

The startup certainly appears to be on the right track, with lots of positive developments since it accepted into the 500 Startups incubator program back in late 2012.

videogram1 videogram2