BC Business
BroadbandTV CEO Shahrzad Rafati
Vancouver-based BroadbandTV Corp., an online video company that helps businesses monetize Youtube fan-uploaded content, announced this morning that it had hit one billion viewer impressions of its network content over the past month.
The fourth largest multi-channel network (MCN) on Youtube, BroadbandTV boasts more than 100 million subscribers and 10,000 content partners, including 2,200 new content partners that it’s acquired in the two months following the $36-million private placement European content giant RTL Group made in the company.
“This is another significant milestone in the continued success of the business,” said Shahrzad Rafati, founder and CEO of Broadband TV in an email to BCBusiness, “we’re one of the first companies to achieve this, making us one of the largest digital broadcasters in the world.”
The company is set on full-throttle growth, backed by strong metrics and its partnership with RTL Group, which took up a 51 per cent stake in BroadbandTV in June. The deal marked the largest private placement in a Canadian Internet media company since 2007 (surpassed by HootSuite in August), with the investment going towards its expansion plans.
Founded in 2005, by then recent UBC computer science grad Shahrzad Rafati, a finalist for this year’s Ernst & Young’s entrepreneur of the year award, the company has a few dozen staff out of its Vancouver office with plans to expand. It’s multi-channel network business works with brands, including the NBA, Discovery and A&E to detect and generate revenue off of fan-uploaded content on Youtube, a model which earned it top spot in BC Business’ 2012 Innovators rankings.
As for this latest mile mark, it puts the Vancouver online video company in the leagues of other giants operating in the Youtube ecosystem, Fullscreen and Maker Studios, which both register monthly impressions in the low billions. Said Rafati in a statement, “with growth comes increased competition and we’re looking forward to showing the market how we are different.”