Blinkx does deal with BBC?

"—Blinkx: The London- and San Francisco-based video aggregator has done a deal to start indexing the BBC’s video content. Blinkx’s search results now include video packages from the BBC News site. At the same time, the company has got deals to index CBS (NYSE: CBS) and Weather Channel videos. Release."

from paidContent.co.uk

er, I rather imagined that Blinkx were already indexing BBC video content, since it has been available through their site for so long?

Ex-minister urges short-selling ban

"LABOUR MP Frank Field will launch a private-member’s bill tomorrow to ban the short-selling of shares.

It would also require pension-fund trustees to disclose whether shares they control have been lent to short-sellers.

Field’s move reflects a head of steam building up in parliament against short-sellers. So far 34 Labour MPs have signed up to his accompanying early-day motion backing the ban on short-selling. "

from Times Online.

I like to think I did my bit to build consensus with my letter to John McFall MP (and his response).

Surge in demand for online video

"British demand for online video sites has shot up over the past year, according to a new report.

Written by research firm Hitwise it found that UK internet traffic to video websites was up 40.7%.

YouTube is the most popular destination, followed by the BBC iPlayer and Google Video.

UK traffic to iPlayer has increased by 152.1% over the last 12 months, peaking over Christmas 2008, and is now the 22nd most visited UK website."

from The BBC

Reply from WPP

[click for larger image]

Does rather put paid to the view - expressed in some quartters - that these letters I write go straight into the bin.

This is about what I expected: after all, they're hardly likely to write back and say "Good idea! We're accumulating stock as I write".

But who knows - if one person at WPP reads it so may others...

Un-f**king-believable

A two-page article in this week's New Media Age entitled "Watch where you want" (from which the graphic in the last post was taken), all about VoD/catch-up  services, and absolutely no mention of Blinkx. Hulu gets mentioned, as does Joost, as does Blinkbox (who dey? Can't be Blinkx-related, since their CEO is called Michael Comish) as well as the major players (iPlayer, 4OD, Five, ITV).

And Blinkx gets not one single mention.

Un-fucking-believable. Just what do the jokers at Blinkx think they're playing at? What the fuck is their PR company up to (I know the answer to that: nothing, that's what they're up to)?

What an absolute shower...

Who's missing?

[click for a larger image]

Who's missing? You'll never guess. No, really, go on - just take a wild guess...

And some people say my criticisms of Blinkx's absolutely pathetic PR efforts are unfounded...

(Image from this week's - 19th March - edition of New Media Age)

Setting the share price alight - not!

BLINKX; blinkx Signs Markit for Video Media Monitoring

Technology Business Journal , March 17, 2009

blinkx, the world's largest video search engine, announced a technology partnership with Markit, a financial information services company. Markit's clients, including banks, asset management firms and hedge funds, will now have organized access tobusiness news video.

Markit will use blinkx's advanced video technology, its massive index of online video and 450-plus content partnerships to provide its clients with comprehensive business news video coverage. The videos will be distributed on Markit's Web site and the Markit Enhanced Feed.

"blinkx has the unique ability to index news feeds from a wide range of sources, thereby providing partners such as Markit with a comprehensive roundup of relevant news coverage on the Web," said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO, blinkx.

"We are seeing an increased demand for consolidating content from a variety of sources," said Mark Knill, managing director, Markit. "By partnering with blinkx, we are providing our clients with video news coverage from relevant sources across the Web, thereby deepening our commitment to provide them with relevant and timely information."

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has established a reputation as a smart way to search new forms of online content such as video. blinkx uses advanced speech-recognition technology to deliver results that are more accurate and reliable than standard metadata-based keyword searches, and powers video search for industry leaders including Ask, Real and Lycos.

http://www.contentagenda.com/articleXml/LN940265993.html

letter to Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP

Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO,

c/o WPP London

27 Farm Street

London W1J 5RJ

17th March 2009

Re: Blinkx

Dear Sir Martin

I am writing to you as a shareholder of Blinkx, the self-proclaimed “world’s largest and most advanced video search engine”.

Sadly the ability of Blinkx’s management to live up to such proud boasts has – so far at least – proven woefully inadequate. A series of unforced errors – the failure to release what many shareholders see as a key product, Transaction Hijacking, in time for the Christmas 2008 market; the willingness of the CEO Suranga Chandratillake to shoot his mouth off, making rash promises (in public, on the record) which are not subsequently fulfilled; and not least what looks from where I’m standing like an amateur and totally bungled approach for the US company Miva – has resulted in a tanked share price and a management team which seems to now have zero credibility with shareholders and the market.

I notice, Sir Martin, that according to a recent New Media Age, last year  WPP made 25% of its profits from digital media. I am writing to you today to suggest that WPP should think about taking over Blinkx.

You may recall, Sir Martin, that more than a year ago now Mr. Chandratillake was at the DLD08 conference when you asked him about the Blinkx business model. If your memory needs refreshing you can see a video of the occasion here on the Critical Distance weblog:

http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2008/01/blinkx-business.html

The exchange between yourself and Mr Chandratillake begins at about 43 minutes into the video, and at about 44m 20s Mr Chandratillake quite clearly says to you – in public, on the record and on video – that Blinkx is “very close to breakeven”.

I hesitate to accuse Mr Chandratillake of telling a deliberate untruth, Sir Martin – and of course there are many kinds of break-even (cashflow, operational, EBITDA etc) - but I believe I am correct in saying that in the year or more since DLD08 there has been no official announcement – either by RNS or in last October’s company numbers – that any kind of break-even has been achieved. You can perhaps draw your own conclusions as to what this has done for Mr Chandratillake’s credibility among Blinkx shareholders, some of whom bought on the back of that statement by him.   

A takeover of Blinkx would make a huge amount of sense for WPP. Blink has the technology: with decent management and a media visionary such as yourself at the helm, capable of playing at the top table, with the contacts and the drive to make company-transforming deals going forwards, Blinkx could become the Google of video search, worth tens of billions. That is the potential which persuaded me to buy into the company, and why I am so angry and bitterly disappointed at what I see as the total failure of the Blinkx management team to deliver even a part of that potential. Indeed, the share price is stuck at less than a third of the price at the IPO only 18 months or so ago. Even in the current market conditions, were Blinkx to have competent management, competent PR, a good stream of deals and steady newsflow – and from where I’m standing it does not look to have any of those things – I believe Blinkx as a company and as an investment should be far ahead of where it is now. 

As regards the pricing of any takeover: my own view is that you could probably acquire Blinkx for somewhere in the region of 60p a share. The price may currently be around 12.5p, but it seems unlikely that the large institutional investors who bought into the IPO at 45p (only 18 months ago) would be persuaded to sell for less than they paid then. However, in the current markets a return of 30% on their investment in under two years – at an offer price of 60p a share – would almost certainly gain a positive hearing.

My motive in this is transparent, Sir Martin: I wish to see a return on my investment, and have absolutely no confidence in Blinkx management to deliver one. I have held since shortly after the IPO and have watched with growing incredulity and anger as Blinkx’s management has made what I consider to be mistake after mistake. The decline in the share price supports my view.

In any case, none of that is your concern. But the chance to buy the next big thing in video search for a price in the region of £175m probably should be your concern. I would strongly recommend you take a close look at Blinkx.

Yours sincerely,

This is what happens when you screw up badly enough for long enough...

MIVA, Inc. Announces the Departure of CFO & COO Lowell W. Robinson

I hope Chandratillake is taking note at Blinkx...

Blinkx running on an iPhone?

This video purports to show a Blinkx app runing on an iPhone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTKWjBHn3kU&eurl=http://sircambridge.aptanacloud.com/blog/2009/03

However, it looks like a fake to me. After all, if it was for real, wouldn't the company release an RNS to encourage and reassure its (very) long-suffering shareholders?

Well wouldn't they?  

Of course they would...

[edit, 17th March 2009] That video has now been taken off TouTube. Is that because it wasn't a fake, or because it was...?

And some people think nobody reads this blog. LOL!

For the doubting Thomases out there...

[click for larger version]

Some (nasty, suspicious) people have doubted whether I have any shares in Blinkx at all. This is a screenshot from my NatWest trading account.

I have another 100k Blinkx shares in my Hargreaves Lansdowne SIPP.

I own plenty of shares. That's whay I'm mad as hell at what I see as the useless, incompetent management of Blink by the current team.  

Chandratillake speaks...

http://www.contentinople.com/video.asp?doc_id=173553

A good primer for anyone who doesn't know who Blinkx are or what they do. 

Chandratillake claims that Blinkx is 'very successful' from a revenue point of view. Well let's hope the next set of figures prove that beyond any doubt - otherwise this interview could prove to be another 'Sorrell moment' that will come back to bite SC on the ass...

Blinkx appoints new PR company.

"Blinkx, the world's largest video search engine, has taken on Marlin PR to build consumer awareness of the company and boost its reputation in the advertising, media and technology communities. Blinkx, which has headquarters in California and the UK, offers more than 35 million hours of video."

from PR Week

and this is Marlin PR's site

Let's hope that Marlin have more of a clue than the last lot - 'cause the last lot were f**king useless...

Letter to John McFall accepted as written evidence to the inquiry...

[click for larger image]

I imagine this is referring to my first letter to John McFall MP of 13th January of this year. I have now sent a soft copy of that, along with my second letter of 9th February, just to be sure.

letter to Rupert Murdoch

##copy to Mr Murdoch, CEO, News Corp Head Office in Surry Hills, NSW, Australia##

##copy to Mr Murdoch c/o the Fox offices in Albany, NY, USA##

8^th March 2009

Re: Blinkx

Dear Mr Murdoch

I am writing to you as a shareholder of Blinkx, the self-proclaimed “world’s largest and most advanced video search engine”.

Sadly the ability of Blinkx’s management to live up to such proud boasts has – so far at least – proven woefully inadequate. A series of unforced errors – the failure to release what many shareholders see as a key product, Transaction Hijacking, in time for the Christmas 2008 market; the willingness of the CEO Suranga Chandratillake to shoot his mouth off, making rash promises (in public, on the record) which are not subsequently fulfilled; and not least what looks from where I’m standing like an amateur and totally bungled approach for the US company Miva – has resulted in a tanked share price and a management team which seems to now have zero credibility with shareholders and the market.

From everything I’ve read about you, Mr Murdoch, I can’t imagine you shedding any tears for Blinkx shareholders – why should you?

But as an astute businessman I would expect you to be interested in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pick up what could prove to be the Google of video search at a bargain-basement price. I am writing to you today to suggest that News Corp should make an approach for Blinkx

I’ve read news reports that you were interested in buying Blinkx from Autonomy several years ago before it was spun out: if you were interested then you must be even more interested now – 35 million hours of long-form, professionally produced video; more than 500 content and syndication partners; world-leading technology protected by some 111 patents; and with partnerships in place with some of the leading media and technology companies in the world, including the BBC and Microsoft UK.

In addition to all of that, Blinkx would fit particularly well into your own online strategy. Fox recently acquired Utarget, which I believe sells media planning and buying services to match Blinkx’s search technology with appropriate contextual advertisements. Buying Blinkx would allow you to vertically integrate these operations, extracting greater revenue from the value chain. Why just make money from planning and buying when you could also make money from the back-end technology?

In addition, a purchase of Blinkx would allow a licensing of Blinkx’s search technologies to Hulu, strengthening the position of your joint venture with NBC in an increasingly crowded market place.

As regards price: my own view is that you could probably acquire Blinkx for somewhere in the region of 60p a share. The price may currently be around 12.5p, but it seems unlikely that the large institutional investors who bought into the IPO at 45p (only 18 months ago) would be persuaded to sell for less than they paid then. However, in the current markets a return of 30% on their investment in under two years – at an offer price of 60p a share – would almost certainly gain a positive hearing.

My motive in this is transparent, Mr Murdoch: I wish to see a return on my investment, and have absolutely no confidence in Blinkx management to deliver one. I have held since shortly after the IPO and have watched with growing incredulity and anger as Blinkx’s management has made what I consider to be mistake after mistake. The decline in the share price supports my view.

In any case, none of that is your concern. But the chance to buy the next big thing in video search for a price in the region of £175m probably should be your concern. I would strongly recommend you take a close look at Blinkx.

Yours sincerely,

"One of the Web's biggest video sites, "blinkx Remote" (tv.blinkx.com), scours the Internet for full-length TV shows, then organizes them by season and episode. Users can browse through over 11,000 episodes of classic and newly popular TV shows, then watch their favorites at any time and from any location with Internet access. TV enthusiasts can search for TV episodes by season, episode, title, network or genre, and quickly find their way to happy viewing."

from Foster Folly News

Who?

from New Media Age 5th March 2009

[click for a larger version]

My emphasis in yellow highlights

WTF?

"Blinkx To Power MSN Video Search

5 Mar, 2009                      

On a day that future generations will refer to as “Video Monday”, the Washington Post has gotten wind of yet another video deal. San Francisco-based Blinkx.tv will announce a partnership with Microsoft to power the video search on their sites, including MSN and Live.com. Presumably MSN Soapbox, Microsoft’s new YouTube clone, will also benefit from the technology. The deal makes Blinkx the “single biggest video search engine on the Web”, with Blinkx already powering the search on AOL, Lycos, Times Online and more. They also index video clips from around the web and allow users to search them on Blinkx.com and partner sites. 

The agreement is different to the usual search hook-ups, since the two companies aren’t sharing ad revenue - instead, Microsoft is paying a license fee based on how often visitors use the search function. The Blinkx technology is pretty advanced, combining voice recognition with image and contextual analysis, according to the WaPo. Striking a deal with Microsoft in video is big news for the company, but MSN is now a lesser player in the video space, where Google Video, YouTube and MySpace Video dominate."

----------------------

And this news was released where? Official RNS? The BBC? Guardian web site? Times Online? Washington Post? New York Times?

No - here, on the world-renowned 6tea.net.

http://www.6tea.net/blinkx-to-power-msn-video-search/

What? You've never heard of6tea.net? Where have you been?...

The news management at Blink is a total joke. Sack the f**king PR company or the Blinkx management. Their choice... 

Reply from UK Shareholders Association

[click for larger image]

So guess who I'll be writing to next?

Interesting...

[click for larger image]

Or download the Blinkx music video toolbar here...

BBC's web TV project to "spawn a whole new industry"

"Project Canvas, the broadcast industry initiative to establish a common IPTV standard, could see the creation of a new software industry, according to the BBC's tech boss.

Canvas, expected to go live in 2010, is a collaboration between the BBC, BT and ITV to develop a platform to carry on-demand content to new broadband-enabled TV receivers."

from silicon.com

ITV results

No mention of Blinkx. Hulu gets a mention, but not Blinkx...

'...other search engines' - hmmm, I sure would love to know which ones they mean...

_____________

"UK online advertising revenues increased by 18% to GBP2.8 billion in 2008, 
according to Advertising Association data. The majority of online revenues come 
from "search" advertising (such as Google and other search engines) where 
revenues increased by 20% to a total of GBP1.6 billion. Online display 
advertising increased by 12% to GBP579 million and online classified advertising 
by 20% to GBP595 million. Online now accounts for 23% of all advertising spend 
in the UK, up from 19% in 2007. 

Whilst online advertising revenues continued to increase over 2008, supply of 
online display advertising inventory - in particular "white space" banner 
advertising - has grown very rapidly, putting downward pressure on prices. 
The proportion of homes accessing the internet via a broadband connection 
continues to grow. Over 90% of internet users in the UK now use broadband and 
60% of UK households now have a broadband connection. With more homes enjoying 
faster broadband connections - with 50Mb services available in some areas - 
demand for online video has grown. A year after its full launch, the BBC was 
recording around 1 million video views via its iPlayer service every day. BARB 
data showed a 77% year-on-year increase in the number of people watching 
television content online. There is evidence that online advertising revenues 
are gravitating to such high-quality services, rather than user-generated 
content. In the US, the Hulu online video service has been forecast to be on 
course to match YouTube's advertising revenues in 2009, despite the latter's 
considerably larger reach. 

Virgin, BT and Sky have all now established VoD services available to their 
subscribers. Such services include content provided by established broadcasters, 
such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. An emerging trend is the convergence of 
online video services with VoD, with the BBC iPlayer and the ITV Player services 
now available to Virgin subscribers via the television. 

The social networking market continued to expand during the year. Facebook 
reached over 200 million monthly unique users and 80 billion monthly page views 
globally, the majority outside the US. Other major social networking sites 
include Bebo, MySpace, LinkedIn and Friends Reunited."

I'm no chartist, but...

[click for larger image]

this was posted by 'fathert' on ADVFN. If he's right, unless there is some major news from the company to break the downward trend the Blinkx share price is heading sub-10p again.

Which means it's heading sub-10p again...

A correction...

Apologies - looks like Blinkx has done a tie-up with MTV after all (as pointed out to me by another poster on ADVFN):

"blinkx.tv Adds MTV Networks Programming to Its Video Search Capabilities

The full slate of MTV Networks' programming will be searchable on blinkx.tv"

only problem is it was reported here

http://www.independentfilm.com/technology/blinkxtv-adds-mtv-network.shtml

a site most people have never heard of.

Which poses the question: why? Why is it being pointed out by someone on a bulletin board? I think I read the media fairly assiduously: at least one broadsheet weekdays and at least two at weekends, New Media Age, Revolution magazine - how come I didn't see anything?

If this invisibly low profile is accidental then sack the PR company. If it's deliberate then the question is: WHY?

Who?

Yet another nonentity deal with another partner nobody's ever heard of...

When you think of the deals that Blinkx could and should be getting a part of - ITV, the MTV music channel going online - pissant little deals like this just don't cut it...

Sorry to seem so negative all the time, but what shareholders want is evidence that Blinx - and the share price - have turned a corner and are headed for the big time. And this ain't it...

------------

NEW YORK, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- - Leading video search engine to leverage best-of-breed video content management system from KIT digital KIT digital, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: KITD), a leading global provider of Internet Protocol-based video enablement technologies, today announced a strategic partnership with blinkx, the web's largest and most advanced video search engine. Under the terms of the agreement, KIT digital will vend blinkx a multi-year enterprise license - including re-selling capability - to its "VX" digital asset management suite. blinkx will integrate KIT's VX suite into the blinkx Advanced Media Platform to streamline its ability to establish and host video content management services for clients.

from Investegate