Vuclip

Vuclip India 2014
Type of business Private
Founded July 2008
Headquarters Milpitas, California, United States
No. of locations Beijing, New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Dubai, Kuala Lampur, Jakarta, Bangkok
Area served Worldwide
Key people Nickhil Jakatdar, CEO and founder
Industry Mobile video entertainment
Slogan(s) Any video, any time, anywhere
Website vuclip.com
Alexa rank Negative increase 37,666 (November 2014)[1]

Vuclip is the leading premium mobile video on demand service for emerging markets with more than 7 million subscribers per quarter. Its footprint spans across counties such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, with rollout plans for other Southeast Asian and African markets.[2] Through strategic partnerships with more than 200 top studios around the world,[3] Vuclip brings to subscribers a catalogue of more than 1 million titles, including Bollywood and Hollywood movies, TV shows, sports, news and music videos in 25 different languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Indonesian, Bahasa, Arabic and Thai. Additionally, subscribers benefit from convenient mobile payment solutions via Vuclip's expanding partnership with more than 13 leading regional carriers.[2]

Vuclip's Dynamic Adaptive Transcoding™ provides an unbuffered viewing experience to consumers across all mobile devices and on any network. Vuclip is headquartered in Milpitas, California with a presence in Dubai, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Delhi, Jakarta and Bangkok.[4]

The platform can be accessed through Vuclip's freely downloadable Android apps as well as through its mobile website [m.vuclip.com].[5]

Overview

Popularity

Like Google, Vuclip started indexing videos on the web. Consumers found Vuclip and started forwarding its videos via SMS messages to their friends. Early adopters started watching and sharing videos, leading to viral dissemination. Carriers like Vodafone and Airtel in India started finding Vuclip on their logs and started promoting it because it led to greater data consumption. Handset manufacturers started preloading the Vuclip launcher on their devices to make themselves more attractive to consumers.[6] Vuclip users enjoy over 2 billion minutes of videos each month via a unique, unbuffered viewing experience regardless of network variability and on all devices from feature phones to smartphones.[7]

Founders and Investors

Vuclip was incorporated as a Milpitas-based mobile video search company by Nickhil Jakatdar (Founder and CEO, Vuclip) and Xinhui Niu in July 2008.[8] The company raised $13 million in Series D, led by a new investor, SingTel Innov8 as the lead investor to further expand into new geographies and innovate on its platform.[9] Since inception in 2008, Vuclip has attracted more than $40 million in investment from outfits including U.S. venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates and Jafco Ventures and Singapore’s SingTel Innov8.[10]

In March 2015, PCCW Media, a Hong Kong-based Media and Entertainment Group acquired a majority stake in the company to enable it to expedite the roll-out of over-the-top (OTT) video services in the Asia Pacific region.[11]

Business Developments

Vuclip opened a research and development (R&D) center in Pune, India in February 2015. This is Vuclip's first R&D center in India and its third globally, with the other two located in Silicon Valley and Beijing. The 15,000 square foot center in Pune includes a mobile lab supporting 8,500 different mobile devices from over 200 manufacturers. This new center will attract top talent in India to drive research, innovation and development of Vuclip's mobile video on demand subscription services. It will provide employment opportunities for professionals with research and development expertise in mobile app development, mobile micro payment technological innovations, mobile testing and big data insights.[12]

Products

Vuclip App on Android,[13] Java,[14] Windows[15]

Vuclip's patent-pending Dynamic Adaptive Transcoding technology enables the simultaneous transcoding or optimization of the content to each specific device and dynamically adapts the video stream to the constantly varying bandwidth of carrier and Wi-Fi networks. Dynamic Adaptive Transcoding creates a quality experience across device and network types.

App Features:

m.vuclip.com[9]

The mobile site delivers videos on any network and on any device without buffering. The browser-based approach ensures accessibility for consumers in emerging markets where penetration of smart phones is limited.

Vuclip's Global Mobile Video Insights

The survey of more than 8,500 users spanning the emerging markets of India, the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa has revealed a growing propensity among mobile video consumers to view and navigate content in their native languages on a single over-the-top mobile app.[16]

Although movies and television shows account for around 80 percent of the international content consumed on the Vuclip platform, 78 percent of Vuclip viewers in India have shown preference to watching content in their native language.[17]

Thailand(88%) and Indonesia(87%) registered the highest percentage of 'Localized' mobile video content, while Malaysia(64%) registered the lowest among the markets surveyed. Navigation in native languages was considered most important in countries such as Indonesia(89%), Egypt(87%) and Thailand(86%). Respondents in Indonesia (91%), Kenya(90%) and Nigeria(90%) considered in aggregated mobile video platform/app important for accessing international and local content rather than downloading multiple apps.[18]

Partners

Vuclip works with all constituents of the mobile ecosystem:

Mobile operators: Vuclip has partnered with leading carriers in South East Asia, Middle East and India including, Maxis, Telkomsel, AIS, Airtel, Vodafone, IDEA and many more to bring mobile video to masses.[19] Vuclip powers video section of Airtel Entertainment Store,[20] the Telkomsel Video 500 mobile video store[21] and more.

Mobile browsers and OEMs: Vuclip has partnered with mobile browsers like UCWeb and handset manufactures like Nokia to bring mobile video to consumers[22]

Content partners: : Vuclip works with more than 200 global and local content partners to offer Hollywood and regional movies, TV shows and music videos in 25 different languages.[2] In the past Vuclip has partnered with major studios like Disney, Sony,[23] and continues to enjoy long term partnershops with Rajshri, Tips, Balaji Motion Pictures, ESPN, Graphic India, NDTV, Zoom, UTV, TV5 Philippines, Fox News and several more content providers.

Advertisers: Vuclip has worked with over 150 brands like Perfetti, Old Spice, Pepsi, Cadbury, and more to help them reach their target audience, through an immersive experience of mobile video advertising solutions[24]

Acquisitions

In February 2013, Vuclip made its first acquisition; the mobile video company Jigsee, to expand its own premium content inventory and app capabilities in India, one of Vuclip’s biggest markets[25]

Awards & Recognitions

Mobby's Award for Best New App at the Mobile Digital and Marketing Summit [2013][25] Smarties India Award for the publisher/media company of the year {2013}[26] Impact’s Icons of India’s Digital Ecosystem.[27]

References

  1. ↑ "Vuclip.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  2. 1 2 3 "PCCW embarks on strategic expansion of OTT video business". Casbaa.com. Retrieved 2015-03-11.
  3. ↑ "Vuclip opens R&D centre in India; to hire over 100 engineers". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2015-02-11.
  4. ↑ "MBC and Vuclip Expand Strategic Partnership to Bring Exclusive Premium Content on Mobile for Audiences Across the Middle East". Retrieved 2015-04-22.
  5. ↑ "Vuclip releases Android app update". ET Telecom. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  6. ↑ "Vuclip's Nickhil Jakatdar: Bringing 'Must-have' Mobile Video to Emerging Markets". Knowledge@Wharton. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
  7. ↑ "Emerging markets to help Vuclip reach 500 million users: CEO". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  8. ↑ "Name change for Milpitas mobile software firm". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  9. 1 2 "Vuclip secures $13M in Series D from SingTel Innov8, existing investors". Retrieved 2012-11-15.
  10. ↑ "Vuclip Strikes Bollywood Content Deal With Balaji". Variety. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  11. ↑ "PCCW Media looks beyond Hong Kong with Vuclip investment". Marketing Interactive. Retrieved 2015-03-11.
  12. ↑ "Vuclip opens R&D centre in India". Telecompaper. Retrieved 2015-02-10.
  13. ↑ "Vuclip on Android".
  14. ↑ "Vuclip on Java".
  15. ↑ "Vuclip on Windows".
  16. ↑ "79% Indian viewers prefer mobile video app with native language navigability: Vuclip survey". Exchange4Media. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  17. ↑ "Viewership of Regional mobile video content rising in India". ANI News. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
  18. ↑ "Viewership of Regional Mobile Video Content Rising in India". Vuclip.com. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
  19. ↑ "Emerging markets to help mobile video streaming co Vuclip reach 500 million users". Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  20. ↑ "Vuclip will be providing technology, product, analytics and content aggregation engine for the video section of the Airtel's Re 1-entertainment store".
  21. ↑ "Vuclip, Telkomsel launch mobile video store". Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  22. ↑ "Vuclip to offer full length Bollywood movies from Balaji Motion Pictures". Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  23. ↑ "In The Shadow Of YouTube, Vuclip Grows Its Mobile Video Network To 80M Uniques, Fends Off Suitors And Eyes Up Acquisitions". Retrieved 2013-06-13.
  24. ↑ "Mobile Video Startup Vuclip Buys Jigsee To Target Emerging Markets With Apps".
  25. 1 2 "Vuclip Wins Mobbys Awards 2013 For Innovation In The Mobile Industry".
  26. ↑ "Vuclip wins Smarties India Award". India Infoline. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  27. ↑ Icons of India's Digital Ecosystem (PDF) (Report).
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