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New Media News Every Morning

MyVideo goes to Limelight Networks for online video delivery

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limelightnetworks.jpgLimelight Networks, a content delivery network (CDN) for digital media, announced today that MyVideo.de has selected Limelight as its exclusive provider of CDN services. Using Limelight’s high performance CDN, MyVideo.de can cost-effectively scale its video-sharing offerings to accommodate its rapidly increasing audience of users, while ensuring high quality and reliable access to rich media content at peak times.

MyVideo.de is Germany’s leading video delivery service and has been at the forefront of the user-generated video sharing industry since early 2006. The site provides users with a portal to upload, view and share videos for the German-language market. With free access provided to more than one and a half million videos, the site is growing steadily, servicing more than eight million video views per day.

“It became clear early on that we would need to improve our infrastructure in order to provide our customers with a superior level of service,” said MyVideo spokesperson Tilo Bonow. “We needed a scalable and high-performing network that would allow all of our customers to experience the best possible delivery speeds at any time of day, especially during peak times. We were familiar with Limelight Networks and decided that their experience and global network would be the ideal solution to deliver the quality of service our user community expects and to ensure we were able to successfully meet our ever-expanding growth.”

Originally posted on August 21, 2007 @ 10:26 am

Metacafe secures $30 million in Series C financing

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metacafe.jpgMetacafe, whose more than 25 million unique viewers each month make it one of the world’s largest video sites, announced it has raised $30 million in Series C financing. The round was led by new investors Highland Capital Partners and DAG Ventures. Existing investors Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital also participated.

“Metacafe is defining the next generation of online video, moving away from simple video sharing and hosting to delivering an exceptional entertainment experience for short-form content,” said Richard de Silva, Partner, Highland Capital Partners. “Its sophisticated approach to audience-driven programming is unique in the industry.”

“Over the past four years Metacafe has built a large and global audience, which has grown quite significantly throughout 2007,” said Tom Goodrich, Partner, DAG Ventures. “We expect the growth to continue as Metacafe rolls out new ways of tapping its community to customize the viewing experience for audience members in different regions around the world.”

The money raised will be used to support the company’s continued global growth, including expanding the breadth and depth of content – from emerging video creators through the Producer Rewards program and through partnerships with established media companies.

With their firms’ investments, both Richard de Silva of Highland Capital Partners and Tom Goodrich of DAG Ventures will join the Metacafe board of directors. With the close of this round, co-founder Arik Czerniak will step away from day-to-day operations to pursue other entrepreneurial endeavors but will remain on the board and continue to advise the company on strategic matters.

Originally posted on August 21, 2007 @ 1:14 pm

New YouTube channel launched to find missing channel

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madeleine.jpgThe International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), in partnership with YouTube, and the Find Madeleine Campaign announced the creation of a new initiative that will provide worldwide exposure to information and videos of missing children. A new YouTube Missing Children’s Channel has been created exclusively for posting videos of missing children.

Case information and videos of missing children will first be submitted to ICMEC for review and verification before posting on the new channel. ICMEC will work with analysts at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), local and national law enforcement on U.S. cases, and with Interpol on international cases to confirm it is an open case and verify the details of the case and video. After the case information has been certified, it will be forwarded to YouTube for posting. Anyone with information about a missing child featured on the website will be directed to contact the appropriate law enforcement agency.

“Every year hundreds of thousands of children go missing around the world and some are abducted to other countries, creating unique challenges for law enforcement and family members searching for them,” said Ernie Allen, President and CEO of ICMEC. “In the U.S. alone, nearly 800,000 children are missing each year or about 2,000 each day. Photos remain the single most effective tool for finding a missing child. This new resource will provide unprecedented exposure for missing children, reaching potentially millions of viewers every day and increasing the opportunity that someone has seen them.”

The timing of the announcement coincides with the 100th day since Madeleine McCann went missing. Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007 while on a family vacation in Portugal. This past June, Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, sought ICMEC’s assistance to create an international resource that would quickly disseminate pictures of missing children throughout the world. Gerry McCann recently visited the headquarters of NCMEC and ICMEC in Virginia where he and Allen discussed the need for disseminating information and images of missing children on a broader,
global basis.

In addition to information and videos of missing children, the channel will include child safety and educational materials in several languages as well as Public Service Announcements and messages from dignitaries, celebrities and others including First Lady Laura Bush and soccer star David Beckham.

Originally posted on August 10, 2007 @ 11:11 am