More and more people are switching to online video news sources instead of being confined to whatever the TV thinks is important or having to read everything. In response, there has been some effort to make online video news more accessible, but not many companies are doing it like Wochit. Their video creation tool is simple; you get licensed content, powerful editing capabilities and simple sharing shortcuts to create a plethora of clicks. With video content being this easy you may want to think about posting a few videos and seeing what happens.
Today we sit down with CEO Dror Ginzberg to discuss the future of video and how it leads to more shares on websites.
Tell us about the product or service.
Wochit is a video creation tool that’s solving the biggest challenge faced by content producers for newsrooms and brands. With the increase in demand for video content across digital channels, these companies need the ability to quickly develop timely content at scale and and for distribution across platforms in order to attract and engage with audiences.
It’s no secret that video is taking over as the content format of choice across platforms. What is surprising is the speed and scale of that takeover. Cisco reported that, in 2015, video made up over 72% of all consumer internet traffic, and, if you tried to watch a month’s worth of video that crosses the ‘net, it would take almost 600,000 years.
Creating all this video is labor and resource intensive. It’s also technologically challenging, especially for legacy publishers who have to play catch-up with their digital-native counterparts. On top of all of that, this content has to be made for distribution across different platforms and for various devices. The rapid changes such as the boom in mobile video consumption is even making it hard for digital-first companies to keep up with consumer demand.
How is it different?
Wochit is a cloud-based, SaaS platform that is unlike any other product. In addition to our very user-friendly video editing tools, we offer a unique content library consisting of pre-licensed content from the likes of AP, Bloomberg Reuters and Getty. We even have a selection of music and services for creating voice overs. With this combination, employees across the organization are empowered to produce studio-quality video in minutes and even update as a story unfolds. For companies, websites, publishers and others looking for ready-made content on trending stories, we have an in-house team that produces nearly 500 info-bite type videos every day.
Soon we’ll be unveiling another new and unique functionality for social automation, which will be a tremendous help for media companies looking to distribute across different platforms, each with its own parameters. Our platform will reproduce a video according to each social platform’s optimal settings, streamlining the process for posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. In order to keep the conversation going with consumers, brands need to maintain an active video presence across all their social feeds – this tool is their solution.
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
Ultimately, Wochit is for anyone who needs to quickly make and distribute video at scale. Our focus at this time is on larger, more journalistic companies including media brands like USA Today and Time Inc. as well as social-only brands like NowThis.
I think it’s fair to say this is a very large market – especially on a global scale, and with video becoming such an essential part of the reporting equation. In a recent survey on media journalism and technology conducted by the Reuters Institute at Oxford University, 79% of respondents from the ecosystem said they’d be investing more in online news video in 2016.
One example of a media company that is being very aggressive with video is Time Inc., who has publicly pledged to post 40,000 videos across their properties this year alone. Wochit, as a partner of Time Inc., plays an important part in achieving this goal.
What is the business model?
Wochit works primarily on a pay per video model with our customers. We also offer pre-committed volumes for discounted price per video. This is especially cost effective and provides great ROI for brands who require large volumes to tackle multi-platform and / or global productions (in multiple languages).
What inspired the business?
I’ve been involved in online technologies with a focus on video since the 1990s, which has helped me to recognize the signs of seismic shifts in the market. Wochit was a proactive response to trends that I saw coming.
As digital began its ascent in the media world, I thought – correctly – that publishers were underprepared for the emergence, then predominance, of dynamic content production and delivery. I wanted to offer these companies a solution that would simplify the complexities of this new media landscape. By giving them the ability to create compelling video around trending topics, we’re helping them to attract and engage audiences and remain competitive if not ahead of the curve.
You’ve previously exited a business. Does building a business for exit come into consideration now when considering Wochit?
I think that planning an exit is not the right way to build a business, nor do I think that one can actually control the way a business will exit. What’s within our control is business execution. If you build a great product, for a great market, you create value. Value turns into exits.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
We are gaining complete market dominance in our domain. We entered the global market aggressively and within the next 6 months we intend to double our client base.
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
I don’t know that it would have changed my career path, but I sometimes wish I’d been warned how lonely being a CEO can be.
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
It’s way outside of tech, but it would be a dream to play a gig with some of the New York City’s best and most famous drummers.
Why did you launch in New York?
New York is the center of the media universe! I knew that selecting the city as the headquarters for business operations, Wochit would be physically positioned among our primary, media-company customers as well as the investment community.
What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?
There are so many good places…. My favorite sushi is Yama, and while there are so many great places for steak, I’d go to Del Frisco’s on 6th Avenue any time.
