Dailymotion Relaunches in the U.S., Emphasizes Premium Video
Video sharing site Dailymotion is relaunching in the U.S., and the playbook is much like its European relaunch in June, which emphasized curated premium content in specific verticals. But this European site faces another obstacle in the States, as it's not well-known here. Dailymotion has its headquarters in Paris, and is 90 percent owned by French mass media conglomerate Vivendi.
In its relaunch, Dailymotion is positioning itself as a lean-back video destination, and emphasizing news, sports, music, and entertainment videos delivered by premium partners that include Hearst, Condé Nast, Bloomberg, Vice, Fuse Media, The Hollywood Reporter, and Refinery 29. Along with its browser experience, it offers iOS and Android apps.
Personalization is key to this rollout, and registered users can click to the For You area to view a feed of recommended videos. Other areas let them explore channels and view trending topics. A library section lets users store favorite videos or view their subscriptions.
By focusing on premium partner video rather than user-generated content, Dailymotion will provide a brand-safe environment for advertisers, but is that what U.S. viewers want? "User-generated content is obviously abundant on the web, but no matter how much of this content is made, people still crave compelling, professional content from trusted storytellers," says Guillaume Clément, chief product and technology officer for Dailymotion. "It’s the same reason why the rise of reality TV did not, in fact, detract from what some are calling the second golden age of TV. People are still drawn to great storytelling—and what we’ve discovered at Dailymotion is that this trend is particularly strong when it comes to affluent 25 to 49 year-olds."
While Dailymotion had a history of being lax about infringement, it's been working to change that since Vivendi took a controlling share. It uses human moderators and digital fingerprinting to remove infringing videos. Each partner is getting a tool to fingerprint their videos. "We are steadfast in our commitment to protecting rights holders. In fact, once an infringement is reported we’re able to delete 100 percent of the associated assets in less than two hours. We’re best in class in this area," Clément says.
Clément declined to give the size of the video library available to U.S. viewers, but said the company was pleased with the volume and quality of its launch partners, and will build further partnerships based on the content that resonates with viewers.
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