These are difficult times for most companies, but particularly so for web video sites. Techcrunch reports that Veoh, an online video site, lays off 25 people are is shifting its business focus away from cometitors like Hulu and Youtube.
In the world of Web video, either you are YouTube or you are in trouble. Today, well-funded video site Veoh
laid off 25 people, the company confirmed today. The layoffs were brought on by a restructuring, as the company shifts focus away from its standalone site, says founder and now-reinstated CEO Dmitry Shapiro. Shapiro replaces former CEO Steve Mitgang. With both today’s layoffs and cutbacks last November, the company is now left with 45 employees, says Shapiro.
Shapiro says that the company is doubling down on its video search browser plug-in, Video Compass, in an effort to engage consumers with videos at times when they wouldn’t normally be watching them. Video Compass adds a video recommendations whenever you conduct a search on Google or elsewhere on the Web. Veoh adds over 25,000 new Video Compass users daily. Veoh’s standalone video playing site is having difficulty competing with the bigger players in the game like YouTube and Hulu.
Online video advertising model is still evolving, so we will be seeing more and more retrenching and consolidation in this space.