Blip.tv: Not Big on Mobile or Pre-rolls

Posted by: Heather Green on January 23

I met with Dina Kaplan, the co-founder of indie video network Blip.TV last week and a couple of points she made reinforced my thoughts. The first is that they aren’t doing much with mobile. Kaplan essentially said she doesn’t believe many people watch video on their phones and it will take a while before they do.

I’ve been incredibly skeptical all last year about the euphoria around mobile advertising. We’ve been there before and it will take a lot for mobile to grow into a big market in the U.S. because of the carriers, screen size, and American habits. My colleague Olga wrote a story late last year that bolster my doubts.

Kaplan also reiterated that taking 15 or 30-second TV ads and slapping them on short online videos just doesn’t work. What works better is a throw-back to the 1950s: The host saying that the show is brought to you by whoever the sponsor is.

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