Brightcove Inc. announced the general availability of Brightcove 4, a major new release of the industry-leading online video platform with enhancements that empower customers to maximize the quality, reach and business impact of online video across desktops and devices. Brightcove 4 introduces a host of new features, including support for native iPhone™ video application development, expanded live streaming capabilities, advanced analytics, and new resources for video distribution, monetization and custom online video applications.Brightcove also introduced the new Brightcove Express edition to bring the power and flexibility of the leading online video platform within reach for all website projects, no matter how large or small. Brightcove Express is priced starting at 99 dollars per month with no annual contract.
“As video becomes pervasive on the Web, publishers face increasingly complex and demanding requirements that often span multiple use-cases and devices,” said Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove chairman and chief executive officer. “Brightcove 4 provides a powerful and extensible suite of new services that make it easy for customers to execute three-screen strategies and generate additional value from online video through new distribution and monetization opportunities. And with Brightcove Express, the Brightcove 4 platform is accessible for any size organization and projects of any scope.”
Brightcove 4 builds on the success of the most comprehensive and widely-used online video platform in the market with wide-ranging innovations and enhancements.
Deliver high-quality video experiences across desktops and devices - Brightcove 4 introduces new capabilities that make it easier than ever to execute high-quality, three-screen strategies:
• Custom cloud encoding offers fine-grained control over state-of-the-art encoding technology, with higher quality default encoding, more formats, and more renditions to ensure optimal quality on every connection and device.
• Secure multi-bitrate streaming protects content while delivering smooth adaptive streaming over any connection.
• Universal Delivery Service (UDS) enables the delivery of content over the most appropriate protocol for the viewer, whether it is via PC, mobile device, connected television or set-top box.
• Brightcove Player and Software Development Kit (SDK) for the iPhone expands the delivery options available to website publishers to include iPhone applications and mobile video websites.
Maximize the business value of online video - Brightcove 4 addresses new use-cases and advanced requirements with a host of new features to help businesses and organizations generate additional value from their online video initiatives:
• Advanced monetization capabilities offer more control and efficiency in ad operations, access to new advertising networks and servers from Google, Yahoo, FreeWheel and the OpenX ad technology platform, as well as support for Video Ad Serving Template (VAST), the new industry standard enabling publishers to work with multiple ad servers and networks.
• Enhanced analytics provide in-depth insight into viewer engagement and the overall value of an organization's video content by highlighting the most effective and ineffective initiatives.
• Social sharing accelerates the flow of video through social networks and services, including Facebook®, MySpace and Twitter.
• Support for live streaming, including the ability to mix and match live and video on-demand programming within the same Brightcove players, brings the compelling immediacy of ad-supported live content within reach for publishers and projects of all sizes and scope.
• Media sharing helps publishers share videos across divisions, affiliates, and with other partners with a single click, enabling them to generate more value from their content through re-use and re-distribution.
Harness the power of cloud-based services to extend online video - Brightcove 4 includes a wide array of new cloud services, SDKs, and extensibility options that provide publishers with an advanced starting point that can adapt and scale to the requirements of the most sophisticated video project:
• Enhanced Media Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) allow developers to build deep, real-time integrations within their Web applications to drive search engine optimization and support robust workflow adaptations that lower the cost of video publishing.
• New Player APIs support the development of highly customized user experiences, advanced monetization, analytics tracking, and synchronized content placement.
• Brightcove Experience Markup Language (BEML) component skinning makes it easier to create fully branded player controls and in-player design elements without requiring Flash programming.
• iPhone SDK for Objective C programmers introduces pre-built components for playback, social sharing, content discovery, and hooks into the Brightcove Media API services.
• Ad Rules API and SDK offers more control and efficiency in ad operations to enable the easy development of sophisticated ad policies, new business logic and custom ad player integrations.
Available for any online video project, no matter how large or small - Brightcove 4's new capabilities and pricing brings the leading online video platform within reach for every professional website project or organization:
• Brightcove Express is a new edition that packs in all the essentials required to jumpstart new online video projects for as little as 99 dollars per month and with no annual contract.
• Easy integration with advertising networks makes it possible to deliver ad-supported video content at low cost.
• Google Analytics integration provides organizations with easy access to the most popular free Web analytics package, making it possible to get a unified view of all content interactions at an extremely low cost.
• Content Management System (CMS) integrations with popular entry-level and open source CMS solutions such as WordPress, TypePad, Drupal, Joomla and Ektron, enable websites of all sizes to easily integrate professional video into their existing Web publishing workflow.
