Recently while visiting the West Coast for the Streaming Media West conference our CEO, Ed Laczynski, took some time to sit down with James Creech, host of the All Things Video podcast. Ed and James had a great conversation on topics ranging from the early days of Zype, Ed’s advice to entrepreneurs, major media trends like OTT and content discovery, and insights into Zype’s plans for 2019.

It’s a great interview and you can listen to the full podcast right here.

We really enjoyed this conversation and to give you a preview, we’ve compiled a few highlights from the show — enjoy!

At the beginning of the podcast, James asks Ed about his inspiration for starting Zype. Ed first saw there was major opportunity for building a business around the fact that viewers aren’t consuming video content in traditional ways — particularly younger viewers.

My oldest at the time was maybe five or six, and I saw how he was consuming video. He had my old iPad, and he was watching Power Rangers on it. And I just realized that he wasn't using the remote control, he wasn't using cable. It really sat with me and I realized, Ok this is my own field research. I started talking to all the other parents — "Do your kids watch, like, Verizon or Comcast or...?" The answer was always, "No".

Ever wonder how Zype started out or who our first customer was? Co-founders Ed Laczynski and Chris Bassolino struck gold when they realized companies were producing video but needed a central place to host and broadcast that content. Did you know Ed and Chris pitched Zype at a South by Southwest accelerator competition in 2015 and won?! Ed shares a bit about Zype’s beginnings:

We built an API for managing video players for companies doing online broadcasting on their website, on mobile, and things like that. We found a customer, Konami which is a large Japanese media company, … they said, "Yeah, we love it. Let's go do it," and they bought the product. And so we got a customer and bootstrapped it, my co-founder and I, with our own money at first, and then realized this is the kind of thing that needs a lot of fuel and a lot of gas and a lot of oxygen. And we're sort of the igniters on that, but we need those key ingredients. And so, I was pretty convinced that this was one that made sense to go raise outside capital. So we went out and pursued that. … We went out to South by Southwest and we pitched Zype at the accelerator competition and we won it."

The discussion shifts from Zype’s history and Ed’s background to questions about the industry. What exactly is OTT? James asks. Here’s a great definition from Ed:

Over-the-top, OTT, video distribution is any kind of video distribution that's not happening through traditional cable or broadcast network. In other words, where the video bits or the video signals don't have to go through the middleman of the cable company — through their set-top box to your eyeballs. And that's why it's called over the top, because you're going over the top of the set-top box."

James and Ed go on to talk about some of the major trends happening in the industry, with cord-cutting and the move toward more choice for viewers. Ed explains how we now have more content options than ever before. In the past, you had your cable channels and that was it. Now, all kinds of interest groups and hobbies have sophisticated video content located on platforms like YouTube, Netflix and Amazon. While we might see consolidation in the market, we will also see more companies launching their own video services. We now have the Dove video channel for example, or the wildly popular Red Bull channel. Brands want and are gaining control over their content like never before.

Ed also sees folks in Hollywood looking for ways to break traditional delivery models and embrace the new shifts in the way video content is distributed. He says they realize that new distribution channels like Hulu and Netflix are now competing with them, by creating their own original content and they must adapt to change or face serious consequences. For video-centric organizations it’s time to get creative when it comes to hosting, distribution, viewer engagement and monetization.

The podcast also touches on what’s next for Zype. What can we expect in 2019?

Ed provided insights into work we are doing to provide solutions for content discovery.

We have a lot of new work coming out around discovery. I think discovery is still the “holy-grail” or big challenge in OTT. We ask who owns discovery right now on video? It might be YouTube, right? Yet, there is still no real discovery solution that solves the discovery dilemma across all apps, channels and streams. We all have a lot of data and know where things are kept. So, we're working on some discovery innovation that I hope we'll announce in 2019."

Stay tuned to see what comes next for Zype in 2019, and to check out the full podcast with Ed click here! An Inside Look at the OTT Video Landscape -- Ed Laczynski (Founder & CEO, Zype).

Recap: All Things Video Podcast with Ed Laczynski

-- Cloud Video Distribution Innovator Adds $2 Million to Initial Raise of $1.6 Million to Accelerate the OTT Movement --

-- Company Confirms 40% Quarter over Quarter Growth, 229% Revenue Increase, and Customer Acquisition up by 327% --

New York, New York – August 2, 2016 – Zype, the cloud video distribution service for OTT, announced today that $2 million has been added to the initial raise of $1.6 million that was announced in October of 2015. The seed financing has been closed with a final amount of $3.6 million in a round led by Revel Partners. Other investors include Point Nine Capital, Alpine Meridian Ventures, Berlin Ventures, Entrepreneurs Investment Fund, and Terrapin Bale Ventures. The additional funds will fuel research and development, as well as sales and marketing initiatives to capitalize on the Company’s recent growth. In 2015, Zype saw revenue increase by 229%, with new customer acquisition growing by 327%. Over the last 12 months, Zype has seen 40% quarter over quarter growth and recurring revenue has more than quadrupled. Year to date, the number of live OTT apps in the marketplace from Zype customers has already doubled to over 100.

“Zype offers a simple, powerful, scalable solution for enterprises that want to build a direct-to-consumer video business,” said Ed Laczynski, Founder and CEO of Zype. “Our customers love that we’ve taken the existing complex video business supply chain and ecosystem and made it easy to drive successful results. The enthusiastic support of the investment community, coupled with the staggering growth we've experienced over the last year, is a testament to the voracious appetite of video distribution and marketing leaders to own their data, own their audience and have full control of their revenue.”

The Zype management team has been reinforced with the addition of industry veteran AJ Vernet — formerly of DoubleClick, Sizmek, and Digital Broadcasting Group — as Chief Revenue Officer.

"AJ has a proven track record building and operating a sales strategy in this space and we are proud to have him on our team. He understands how content owners and brands can take advantage of the opportunities that the transformations of cordcutting and app store economy present,” Laczynski added.

Zype provides their cloud video distribution technology to such diverse content owners as Mill Creek Entertainment, What’s Trending, and The Rebel Media, a conservative Canadian online political and social commentary media platform.

“There is real money to be made in OTT if you have the right system in place,” said Hamish Marshall, Member of the Board of Directors with The Rebel Media. “We have acquired over five thousand paid subscribers since our launch in March of this year and Zype's software as a service platform has played a major role in our ability to cultivate and maintain our subscriber base. A significant part of our audience is older consumers, many of whom use legacy browsers that require troubleshooting to ensure they can watch our content. Zype's outstanding and responsive customer success team has helped us to help our customers, which has absolutely led to high subscriber retention."

“If Zype had existed in 2008, the video landscape would look very different today,” said Chris Young, Partner at Revel Partners. “Zype was created to address the pain points of multi-platform publishing and it’s becoming the cloud video service of choice for content owners seeking a one-click solution to publish their content and manage their subscribers, while keeping up with the proliferation of new platforms that seem to pop up every month.”

Zype is the cloud video distribution service for OTT that makes it easy for content owners to connect directly with their audiences on every screen. With Zype, enterprise content owners and brands can own and accelerate all aspects of their video distribution pipeline. Zype provides push button app publishing, monetization, streaming, audience management, and analytics that is integrated into hundreds of OTT apps and engaged by millions of viewers every month. Launched in 2014 and headquartered in New York with offices in Los Angeles, Zype is the 2015 SXSW Accelerator winner in the entertainment and content technology category.

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Recap: All Things Video Podcast with Ed Laczynski

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