With New CEO, Can BitTorrent Figure Out A Business?
If you recall, in the last few years, BitTorrent has had many business plans:
- A digital movie store, which never caught on.
- A content delivery platform, which hasn't caught on.
- A set-top box platform, which hasn't caught on.
Cofounder Ashwin Navin, who's quitting to start a startup incubator, told the Wall Street Journal that the company plans to go back to its roots and focus more on technology, rather than content deals. But he didn't offer any specifics.
To be sure, it hasn't necessarily been easy for BitTorrent Inc. We're sure many Big Media execs are still nervous about getting too close to the P2P technology that's responsible for a huge portion of Internet piracy -- legitimate corporate structure or not. And Comcast (CMCSA) made an ugly scene earlier this year after it was busted for disrupting many of its subscribers' BitTorrent file transfers.
So... what's next?
See Also:
BitTorrent CEO: Rethinking Media Store, No Business Impact From Comcast
BitTorrent, Comcast Shake Hands, Downloaders Still Screwed
Fox's 'Prison Break' Free On Hulu, But 1 Million Prefer BitTorrent
Pando, even though it is like BT, has had more success (and even counts NBCU as a customer); brand matters!
my comments at http://www.commentino.com/orim
That's the power they have, they could flood the bittorrent network with the best content, legal, and for free. Ad Sponsored.
An episode of Heroes has gotten 10 million downloads from mininova on the first day, that's comparable to a broadcast audience right there. How much money did NBC producers make on that? directly nothing, and they could. Indirectly, maybe, since availability has allowed their audience to be global for free.
My point here is, imagine a release of Spider Man 5, a legal torrent, one day before it premieres on movie theaters. It'd be like the superbowl of torrents, wouldn't you want to advertise your product to that audience. It would not hurt the box office, many people enjoy the movie going experience, the big screen, the great sound, going with friends, that won't go away. Why miss the opportunity to make a couple (or more) million on bittorrent by selling high CPM video ads on a HD torrent? As it is, they're making $0.
This is the ultimate goal of Hulu wouldn't you agree? Change consumer behavior patters and diminish the demand for torrents. Do consumers want to "own" the content (with owning defined as downloading the asset), or do they simple want access to it across a myriad of platforms/ devices?