Diagonal View might be the biggest name in video you haven't heard of. Founded in 2008, their short-form videos have recorded 500m views and want to expand to every site on the web.
Privately funded and part-owned by ITN, Diagonal View employs 15 people at its base in London. Commercial manager Jimmy Butchart gives us his Elevator Pitch.
What's your pitch?
"Diagonal View make short-form entertainment video.
"We have a range of channels which cover general entertainment, celebrity news, factual and crazy stories from around the world. You'll find our video on 100s of sites including MSN, Yahoo, AOL, MySpace & YouTube. Content is controlled and managed centrally in London by our amazing technical team. We then work with partners to put video in their environments. So when a new piece of content is published (30 - 40 every week) the user gets access to it immediately."
How do you make money?
"Primarily by running targeted advertising on our video and also producing bespoke content for brands."
How are you surviving the downturn?
"We've done nothing but grow since we were founded. I don't believe we're suffering from the downturn. Some of our partners are getting smarter about how they work due to the economic pressure but that has let to deeper relationships with our editorial team which has ultimately led to more combined success for all involved and a better service for the viewers."
What's your background?
"Commercial and digital - publishing, research and data, advertising, marketing, new media and sales."
What makes your business unique?
"We're 100% focused on syndicating video - we don't have our own platform or website. We're 100% committed to short form entertainment, we know this is how users consume high volumes of video throughout their day. Our creativity is matched by our ability to continuously produce masses of great video content and be profitable doing it. We're one of very few British start ups whose domestic market is the US and we're doing really well out there."
What has been your biggest achievement so far?
"The volume of views we've generated. Numerous successes (highest views per month on MSN over and over again, highest played channel in MySpace, most followed new channel on Youtube). Commercially we learn from every success by evaluating what we could do better; that's a cultural thing which is proving valuable for quick progression."
Who in the tech business inspires you?
"We're watching all advertising delivery and video technologies closely but our big opportunity remains untapped as we look to work with established businesses with great audiences who have no video. One company we all like and believe has really established themselves on a global level from a humble British beginning is Vibrant Media. We look forward to working with them one day. Creatively I believe we have some shared values with the likes of Rubber Republic and the Viral Factory."
What's your biggest challenge?
"Technical. Working with publishers to get our video from A to B, and ensuring we do this in a way which keeps the publisher happy and every one making money. Partnering with the right businesses is crucial."
What's the most important piece web tool you use each day?
"Commercially we're only as good as our delivery so our CMS, ad delivery and video playing technology are all important."
Name your closest competitors
"Demand Media operate a comparable business in the US but their revenue seems to come from a lot of areas." Where do you want the company to be in five years?
"Our video should be on every website. We expect to be producing a lot more, distributing a lot more and working far closer with our partners and clients. We're building a knowledge of video consumption which should put us in a great position in the next two years. And very profitable, of course."
Sell to Google, or be bigger than Google?
"Sell to Google, though working with them more in any capacity would be good. Right now we're just focused on being the best we can be and delivering great value to our partners and great content to our collective audiences."
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