SAN JOSE, CA — After earning praise in Forrester’s recent report on online video platforms, the New York-based video services firm Twistage is gearing up to double its staff, increase its marketing, and turn a profit by the end of 2010.
We spoke with the company’s CEO David Wadler about the new expansion plans, including growing the current staff of 13 to about 26. That will include hires in marketing, and Wadler said he expects the investment in resources to lead to quick ROI and 2010 profitability.
Twistage operates solely on a licensing fee model, earning revenue based on the number of streams delivered for customers. We caught up with Wadler at the recent Streaming Media West event where he talked about new features of the service.
Twistage recently added support for photo management and will also add more “pre-baked integration” features for clients, such as CDN integration, analytics integration, and player integration, so customers can set rules for how their use of Twistage will hook into other services they use.
Twistage clients include Perez Hilton, Fast Company, Inc., and New York Observer, and it delivers more than 100 million streams a month for its clients. Twistage competes with video platform companies such as Brightcove, Ooyala, and thePlatform, but bills itself more as a white-label provider. Its competitive advantage, Wadler said, lies in its focus on work-flow and customization options each step of the way–from getting video out of a camera to getting it on the Web.
In the Forrester report, the research firm dubbed Twistage a “contender” and cites its “media management, player capabilities,
and publishing capabilities,” while noting the company should expand its team.
Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer
