The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Name: Frequency
Quick Pitch: Frequency compiles websites' video content into television-like channels.
Genius Idea: Using both social feeds and any website's video content to create a better web viewing experience.
With more than 3 billion videos viewed every day, YouTube still only accounts for about 44% of videos viewed globally, according to comScore. Other video upload sites such as Vimeo, news outlets and other websites account for the rest.
Frequency, unlike most web video players, doesn't ignore this video content outside of YouTube. It creates video channels from sites that use their own players, putting all of the site's videos in one spot. LIke VHX and Shelby.tv, Frequency also compiles videos from social feeds so that you can, for instance, see all the video channels that your Facebook friends have posted — even if those videos are deep within an article rather than a standalone video.
The startup launched its first iPad app, which lets users flip through these channels easily, on Monday.
About 1,000 channel options come with the app, including Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Discovery Networks, WSJ Business, Forbes and The Onion. You can follow as many channels as you want. A thumbnail for each of your channels appears on the top of both web and iPad versions for easy access. Multiple channels can be combined to create one feed, and playback is non-stop.
Frequency's interface is slick, and creating video channels from sites like Discovery Networks and The Wall Street Journal is a better deal than cable. But what really makes the company stand out from the increasingly crowded video space are its promising partnerships.
Video platform Brightcove, which powers video for tens of thousands of sites, is adding an option to its product that lets customers publish video directly to Frequency. Since Frequency maintains all of its channels' ads and player functionality, it's hoping content creators will be eager to include and control their content on the platform.
Samsung has also agreed to pre-load a Frequency app on all of its new Smart TVs this year. Frequency CEO Blair Harrison says that means at least 7 million people will meet the video platform when they flip on their new TVs — giving Frequency quite a head start when it comes to user acquisition.
Image courtesy of iStock, Maica
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
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