Online video businesses see connected TV opportunities

Several announcements at CES this week show the online video networks edging into the world of Connected TV.

Myspace – owned by Specific Media…and Justin Timberlake – has announced Myspace TV, ” a new service that makes the television experience social”. It will be available in partnership with Panasonic initially. Early services – logically – will be music-based, but movies, sports and reality are promised later. Viewers will also be able to chat about what they are watching whilst they are watching, and invite friends to watch with them. This will launch in the first half of 2012.

“The platform fully integrates social and television in new ways that add a dimension to content discovery and evolve the traditional television experience. A companion app will be available on tablets and smartphones, providing instant sync capabilities for a seamless experience,” says the Myspace press office.

Elsewhere online video network Tremor Video has added partnerships with Samsung, Panasonic, LG and Phillips TVs via a software deal with Israeli business, justAd.TV. Tremor already has partnerships with Roku and Boxee.

Other companies such as Rovi (with Samsung and Sony) and YuMe (with LG) are already powering connected TV advertising. Tremor claims it will focus on premium inventory.

The digital video analytics and services firm Ooyala has also announced a universal syndication deal with Panasonic this week.

Ooyala believe the result of the partnership, will be that premium publishers will “gain seamless access to connected living rooms and other connected devices with one-click access to scale programme offerings for next-generation TV experiences.”

The Panasonic VIERA Connect smart TV will be the first smart TV platform to take advantage of the Universal Syndication, with The Country Network (TCN) being the first publisher this will give VIERA Connect customers access to content from TCN’s catalogue of country music artists and channels, including a simulcast of the network’s live TV broadcast channel. Ooyala promises that more video publishers will offer a broad range of content in early 2012.

Just three of the deals being struck this week.

Whilst it is evident that online video businesses see this as a key extension of their offering, it is still not clear what the end goal for the CE companies might be. Is it all about selling more boxes or do they see themselves becoming genuine content owners (Sony already is) or just content gatekeepers? And we still have not yet seen the real impact Google or Apple could have on this market.