FierceOnlineVideo Leaders - Rob Manoff, CEO Jambo Media

FierceOnlineVideo got a chance to catch up with Rob Manoff, CEO of Jambo Media, to discuss the online video industry and his company's progress so far in 2009. Click here for more of our ongoing FierceOnlineVideo Leaders interviews.

FierceOV: Rob, as we approach the half-way point of the year, what have been some highlights for you and Jambo Media so far in 2009?

Manoff: The growth of our network has been really exciting, and we're now consistently ranked in the top 20 video sites by comScore. The successful launch of the Jambocast Video Network and our white-label Jambocast Player were also highlights of the year so far. We're excited to see how our concept of vertical video networks can grow and how we can provide our licensed video content to create new video networks for our customers.

FierceOV: Now that you've launched those two products, what additional new opportunities do you see to grow Jambo Media? 

Manoff: It's still all about growth, and we want to continue to improve our player and the quality of the content in our network. We want to focus on content optimization, and by that, I mean making sure the videos we place on a site are the best in context with the other text and picture content on the page, as well as suited to the individual user, if we've seen them before. We're currently developing new ways to cookie the user and identify other content on the page so that this sort of personalized content becomes more of a reality, without becoming too intrusive. For instance, a cooking site would ideally have videos of preparation of the exact recipe the user is looking for, and a movie box office site might have trailers of the weekend's top grossing films. We think that will drive interaction and ultimately lead to more video views.

FierceOV: What are your thoughts on the content side of the business right now?

Manoff: I think the content area is very exciting right now, and we've been finding that content owners are coming to the realization that keeping their content on their own site is not enough. Hoping the user will find you in one location doesn't work, and then the content owner seeks out more areas to be seen, so they can get multiple uses out of each piece of content. I'm a believer in the syndication model, and we try to optimize syndication with our vertical video networks. We purposely price our model as a revenue share, with no minimum guarantees, instead of a subscription, to increase that incentive to try syndication as well.

FierceOV: Some companies in the online video space have taken a very vertical approach, where they focus on being a video portal or an ad network, whereas Jambo offers many different components. What do you think are the benefits and drawbacks of this approach? 

Manoff: Well, we set out with a focus on video, so though you might say we're in a few parts of the video market, doing white-label player support, vertical video networks, we're not breaking into other content areas for instance. So we think we're still very focused on the market opportunity we see. We simplify things for our customers because they don't need three separate accounts and logins to choose ads and manage their video assets. We provide an all-in-one solution that also lets them customize the look and feel of their player on their sites.

FierceOV: What are some trends you're seeing in the space? What are some issues or pain points you feel need to be addressed? 

Manoff: There has been major difficulty on the player side because each company needs to be integrated into the Flash player, but has different ways of doing it. I think you'll see a more universal approach here as well as in ad code integration. I also think syndication will continue to take off, and outside parties will start telling of their success with it, which will drive growth. We also think that every change and product design should be done with the content owner first in mind, because it's that content, not the technological capability of the player or the ad network being used, that excites people and drives the increase in online video viewing.