Zipidee announced today that it has acquired the TotalVid.com business from Landmark Communications, making it the Internet’s largest digital marketplace for mid- to long-tail instructional, educational, and special interest ‘pay for’ content. The acquisition also makes Zipidee the market leader in the rapidly growing marketplace for monetizable Prosumer Generated Content (PGC).
“Our acquisition of TotalVid provides Zipidee with the largest digital library of educational, instructional, and hard-to-find enthusiast videos, as well as a dedicated customer base of paying, content hungry consumers,” said Henry Wong, CEO of Zipidee. “This acquisition underscores our belief that the most efficient way to monetize mid to long-tail content is not through an ad-supported model, but rather is through a model based upon paying customers. This acquisition creates instant critical mass for our marketplace and positions Zipidee as the premier online marketplace for digi-goods.”
As a result of the acquisition, Zipidee now has:
- More than 10,000 titles for sale, with the majority of these titles under exclusive licensing arrangement
- Over 600 content sellers, ranging from independent producers to major media companies
- Over 300,000 visitors per month
- More than 1 million seller listing page views per month
- Approximately 150,000 active registered members
- Two new digital marketplaces: TotalVid.com and VideoWaza.com
“This acquisition demonstrates the rapid growth in the digital goods marketplace and its strong impact on both businesses and consumers,” said Karsten Weide, Program Director, Digital Media and Entertainment, with IDC. “There is a huge supply of valuable long-tail content for which there has never been a dominant marketplace. Zipidee is the first company to offer such a marketplace, just as eBay has done for the long-tail market of physical goods.”
Zipidee now gives consumers on-demand access to the Internet’s largest selection of unique, hard-to-find videos. Consumers have access to thousands of titles in more than 100 categories, including action sports, martial arts, instructional, anime, travel, and more, many of which are not available at other online markets such as iTunes and Amazon Unbox.
“This transaction makes a lot of sense for both our existing content providers and our current customers,” stated Karl Quist, President of TotalVid. “TotalVid’s content partners will now be able to benefit from a network of customers who will discover their titles while searching for other digi-goods, such as audio or eBooks. In addition, our current customers will now enjoy an even larger library of content from which to choose.”
Zipidee will continue the current subscription model pricing for existing customers of TotalVid.com and VideoWaza.com. Content from TotalVid and VideoWaza will also be made available for rental or download at www.zipidee.com. TotalVid will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Zipidee, Inc. Financial details of the acquisition were undisclosed.
About Landmark Communications
Landmark Communications, Inc., is a privately-held media company with interests in newspapers, broadcasting, cable programming, print and online classified marketplaces, broadband services, interactive marketing, Internet video distribution, and other businesses. Based in Norfolk, VA, Landmark employs more than 12,000 people in the US. Landmark owns The Weather Channel®; Weather.com®; hundreds of local and national print, broadcasting, and online businesses; WSI Corporation, a provider of weather presentation systems and data; CBS-TV affiliates NewsChannel 5 Network in Nashville and KLAS-TV in Las Vegas; and Dominion Enterprises, a leading operator of vertical classified marketplaces. Landmark Interactive is a division of Landmark Communications, which includes Q Interactive, a leading interactive direct marketing company; Alliant Cooperative Data Solutions, a leading cooperative database marketing provider; Digital Envoy the pioneer of Internet Protocol intelligence and Geolocation technology; and the leading online marketplaces for franchise and business ownership opportunities.
About Zipidee
Zipidee is the Internet’s largest digital Prosumer Generated Content (PGC) marketplace for instructional, educational, health and fitness, sports, and special interest content. Zipidee has a rapidly expanding seller network of more than 600 content producers and distributors and over 150,000 repeat customers. The Zipidee marketplace receives over 300,000 visitors per month, browsing through more than 1 million pages of digital goods for sale. Our platform provides the tools for media owners, from aspiring media moguls to large media companies, to market and sell original digital goods, including video, audio (books and music), eBooks, mobile content, and more, to complement existing sales channels. By giving sellers the freedom to choose how they distribute their digi-goods, from business model to price point, Zipidee allows buyers and sellers to rule and transact in an open marketplace. Zipidee is a privately held San Francisco-based company and is venture-backed by leading investors. For additional information on the Zipidee marketplace, please visit www.zipidee.com, www.totalvid.com, and www.videowaza.com.
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