Mario Sgambelluri: What's Brightcove's one-sentence pitch?

Adam Gerber: Well, if the future is all about video -- whether it's what people call linear TV, broadband video, or video-on-demand today -- we're aiming to make it a much more open, democratic and relevant experience for consumers, marketers and content owners.

Sgambelluri: Business writer and ZDNet blogger Richard MacManus described Brightcove as a "disruptive start-up that could change the way we watch TV." How would you describe the way Brightcove -- and other services that bring video programming online -- will disrupt media viewing habits? Is it more than just watching an episode of Desperate Housewives on your laptop?

Gerber: It's much more than that! Unlocking existing video content that has been produced for one distribution platform or window is only one part of the opportunity. In the short-term, it will probably be the most talked about opportunity. But, the bigger win for content owners, and in the end consumers, is facilitating an open distribution platform for all things video. This means short form, independent, highly niche, commercial, amateur, etc. The reason that Brightcove (and its underlying open distribution model) potentially changes the way we watch TV, is because we are aiming to redefine what TV is. It needs to be about a lot more than just passively viewing predictable content. It needs to be about allowing consumers to choose, interact, and participate in the sharing and consumption of video content anywhere and any way they want.

Sgambelluri: Can Brightcove bring content to your television?

Gerber: Technically, yes. Content that is formatted for the [Microsoft] Media Center platform can be pushed to a television screen today. And we are working with other hardware, connectivity, and content partners to ensure we are a central capability they develop around as the IP-PC-TV convergence gains momentum. Over time, as the IP distribution platform is embraced, we envision Brightcove facilitating a substantial amount of content delivery directly to the TV either via our real-time streaming, or downloadable solutions.

Sgambelluri: Over the last month, we've seen an extraordinary sea change in the way television networks are making their content available (for pay). There's also BitTorrent which spreads video content (for free). What niche will Brightcove carve out in this environment?

Gerber: It's interesting. First, I have to say I don't think we are going to be carving out a niche. I truly believe we are going to be a leading provider of video services to publishers, consumers and marketers.

Here's the issue with pay for play, and P2P solutions like BitTorrent. They don't provide an end to end solution, and they aren't easily acceptable to the masses. Sure, large groups of people will pay for individual pieces of content. But I'd like to remind folks that the average person in the U.S. watches well over 1000 hours of TV content a year -- and no matter which study you look at, people aren't interested in shouldering additional cost for their media.

Video will continue to be, generally, a mass, ad supported experience. We're just all going to be watching/interacting with different things, on a variety of devices. For advertisers, there has to be a level of commonality/scalability even in a fragmented world. Advertisers need to be able to aggregate up-- and ensure they are reaching a viable number of consumers in an accountable way. And more importantly, we have to innovate how we deliver advertising so that clutter is minimized, relevancy is increased, and new formats engage viewers.

The recent pay-VOD distribution deals are interesting because they represent the first efforts by large scale networks to recognize the reality of how their viewers are evolving. But you'll notice none of the announcements effectively addressed common standards/models for advertising. In fact, the trials are all over the map. Some with advertising, some without, some just re-playing linear ads. And none of them dealt with ad accountability! BitTorrent, while trying to deal with DRM issues and make themselves attractive to content owners, really doesn't have a full publishing, monetization or consumer tools strategy. As of now, they are a form of efficient distribution that can be leveraged by content owners, or individuals. At the end of the day, I believe Brightcove is positioned to be a leading internet TV services provider-- for the broad publishing and broad advertising marketplace. I really don't see any other companies out there trying to do what we are doing.