Jump In Online video is heating up, which means big opportunities for startups.
By Amanda C. Kooser •
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Online video is hot, hot, hot. Even with the rampant success of YouTube, we've barely scratched the surface of online video's potential. A study released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project earlier this year found that traffic to video-sharing sites doubled in 2007. New York City-based Magnify.net is one startup that's launched into this space with vim and vigor. Instead of focusing on user-uploaded videos a la YouTube, Magnify.net aims to help users locate, aggregate and use video on their own websites.
Magnify.net, which launched in January, is a prime example of finding new opportunities in online video. It takes a lot of storage space and specific technical know-how to host user-submitted videos, but startups can look toward areas such as video search, video advertising, niche content, and video-creation and sharing tools. "We decided not to be a portal or a destination," says Steve Rosenbaum, co-founder of Magnify.net with Simon Cavalletto, 36. "We built a solution that lives on top of this inevitable mountain of storage. We give websites the tools to discover and curate video."