Picking an online video partner

Leading online video platforms Brightcove, thePlatform and Ooyala all claim their partner programs are helping them grow their businesses and improve the service they provide customers. But with the number of partners for these companies climbing into the dozens, and in Brightcove's case, past 200, I wondered if a lot of these partnerships weren't more in name than in practice.

All three companies agreed that some partnerships flourish while others fail outright, but thePlatform's Marty Roberts, vice president of marketing, said that was part of the process of developing a partner program that delivers value for thePlatform, its partners and its customers.

"We take a very broad approach to our partner program, and if there are three or four or five vendors offering the same type of service, we'll try to partner with them all initially," Roberts said. "It's O.K. if some get lost in the mix, because it's part of the process by which we vet out who the best partners are. As we develop relationships with them and tighten up those relationships, as we did with EdgeCast, for example, our customers benefit from the tighter integration and proven track record of these partners."

Bismark Lepe, Ooyala co-founder and president of product strategy, said 20 percent of the company's revenues are generated through its partner program, but the vast majority of that comes from a small actual number of partner companies.

"What's interesting about the video ecosystem is there are a lot of very small players and it's a fairly nascent industry," Lepe said. "With alliances and partnerships, there are only a handful that can drive revenue and the actual overall reach of your platform. For some of them, the revenue you're generating won't cover the cost of the press release to announce it."

Lepe said Ooyala hired former Akamai channel leader Eric Morris about a year ago to develop the company's partner strategy. Since then, Lepe said, Ooyala's partner program has expanded to include more than 50 global partners.

But the king of partner programs, at least by sheer number, is Brightcove's Alliance, which has surpassed 200 members, according to the company.

Jeff Whatcott, vice president of marketing for Brightcove, said the company maintains a certification process to show that solution partners have demonstrated competency in integration and that they deliver projects on time and on budget for Brightcove customers. Then, once the partners have success delivering solutions, Whatcott says Brightcove goes to bat for them.

"We provide our partners training that helps us get to the point that they can offer services to our customers, and we spotlight the partners that have traction," Whatcott said. "We provide sales and marketing assistance once they're on board, and say ‘Let's go generate some leads, together.' It's a significant investment for us, and no other video platform has invested the same amount of resources in their program as Brightcove has."

While the number of Brightcove partners could serve as confirmation of Whatcott's statement, thePlatform's Roberts takes a different approach.

"When I look at my program, I think ‘Do I have the right partners on board?' because this is not a race to the most," Roberts said, "I don't win by having every partner, but by having the right partner on board. We look at our partner program in terms of quality and as a means to an end, not as an end in and of itself."

Lepe, Roberts, and Whatcott, though they had differing opinions on the ideal way a partner program should operate, all agreed that the partner must provide value to the customer and receive incentive through increased exposure or sales for the relationship to be worthwhile for all involved. What's been your experience working with a video platform partner program? 

- Pete