Next New Networks: $15 Million Second Round From Goldman, Velocity For Video "Micronetwork"
Yesterday we wondered whether Next New Networks was still raising a second round. Not any more: The Web video network has closed a $15 million Series B, led by Goldman Sachs and Velocity Interactive Group, whose Jon Miller was already a NNN board member. Spark Capital, Haim Saban and Bob Pittman's Pilot Group, who were all part of the company's $8 million Series A, have all reupped. No word on valuation but we'll update if we get an estimate.
We've been skeptical about the Web video industry for some time, and expect a shakeout to commence sooner than later. If NNN is going to survive it's going to have start ramping up both distribution and revenue, but the company says it's doing just that: It began a real sales effort in Q4, and is now boasting of big jump in eyeballs. It says it generated 100 million video views in 2007 and says that's accelerating rapidly; NNN says it racked up 33 million views in February alone.


no disprects to NNN, who i believe is only doing their jobs, but this sounds like yet another metric that appears impressive but has little or no meaning in the real world
i mean, in a "video view", does a person actually watch an entire video? or is a "video view" that lasts ten seconds reported the same as one that watches a minute?
how about broken streams/downloads? if a video is started is it automatically counted even if it is not delivered completely?
etc.
nielsen's TV ratings are lame, but at least they stiff everybody more or less the same. relying on a company to report its own metrics is a recipe for ruin. and its even worse when the self-reporting is not required to adhere to any accepted third-party standards or measures
I'll ask.