Just as Google’s dominance has failed to end the spawning of more search engines, the fairytale that is YouTube has not discouraged other video sites from pursuing greatness in their own, smaller-scale forms.
Enter Heavy.com, the online video aggregator based in New York, and seventh fastest growing Web brand, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
Heavy received $20 million in funding on Monday, which was its fifth round. The financial boost comes courtesy of Polaris Venture Partners, which put up $10 million for the video site last year.
The seven-year-old company does not find its strength in user-generated content like YouTube and MySpace, but relies instead on its own content.
This new injection of funding will serve to help Heavy expand its presence overseas, particularly in Europe and Asia, and broaden the available content it offers to its users. Sports and teen-related content are both being targeted in this content expansion.
Heavy has been faring well for itself so far. Its worldwide traffic grew from 8.8 million last year to 11.8 million visitors this year, which indicates 35% growth.
The key question, as noted by Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker, is what the online video content landscape will look like in the coming years. Will YouTube user-generated-content model continue to thrive, or will more professionally produced content take over? Or will there be some kind of meshing of both?
It will also be important to see whether or not users who create their own content will become more avaricious in the coming years and demand that they be compensated for their work. Sites like Revver will be there for them, but will big sites like YouTube cater to them as well?
Sources:
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20637&hed=
Despite+YouTube%e2%80%99s+Success%2c+Heavy.com+Finds+Backing
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