First, there were the Twitter picture services. Soon, there were a lot of those. Then, there were the Twitter video services. And now, there are getting to be a lot of those. So how do you choose which one to use? Most people base it on two things: First, third-party Twitter client support. And second, features. Today, Vidly is launching one such feature.
Vidly is claiming to be the first HD video service for Twitter. HD video on the web has always been sort of a hazy thing due to varying expectations of resolutions and bitrates, but it seems safe to say that Vidly’s video is the highest quality out there among its competitors. Several of them offer video quality that can be grainy or choppy, but these new Vidly videos are smooth and clear.
So why bother? After all, most of these videos are relatively short and storing and serving HD clearly costs more. Vidly is doing it because they see it as a great tool for brands to use to further promote themselves on Twitter. That makes sense, if someone like National Geographic is going to tweet out videos, it probably doesn’t want them to look bad. In fact, Vidly’s biggest competitor here may be that these brands figure out how to store their own HD media and simply tweet that out.
Along with the HD launch, Vidly is hosting a new competition alongside mobile video camera maker Flip. Each Friday for a few weeks, Vidly and Flip will give away a branded MinoHD device. To enter, you simply have to tweet something with the #vidly hashtag.
Vidly underwent a namechange (it was TwitVid.io) in August, and picked up some fresh funding. It already has several brands using its service, now it’s just a matter of convincing them, and others, that it’s the go-to Twitter video service.
It’s also worth noting that any HD which was previously uploaded to Vidly will now also be in HD.
Without a doubt the best video quality I’ve seen in a Twitter focused service. Congrats guys, can I have a flip?
Very cool, better than 12seconds as a video service for Twitter. Speaking of awesome hi def cameras, the Kodak Zi8 camera is very cool, with better features than the Flip MinoHD and very sleek.
“The man apparently left the company a few weeks ago but hadn’t yet found the time to change his LinkedIn profile.”
???. People donot change it for months.Do you want him to write an apology letter. Silly point.
sorry cross post.
Wrong post chief max
Pretty nice! Though not really what I would call HD quality (pretty low bitrate).
Hey Tim,
Take another look. You were actually seeing the HQ, not HD, version of the video — we are resolving that issue as we speak!
Our bitrate is 2000.
chrys, can you please tell us how you plan to compete with youtube? a lot of people are commenting that vidly doesn’t stand a chance in this market because of youtube (and other services like yfrog/vimeo/flickr). what’s your take on it?
Wait – I don’t get it.
This is simply a “share on Twitter” function fro a commonplace video sharing website (really cool UI by the way, the website itself is great)
Am I missing something, or is there just nothing “new/special” here?
I mean, I’m already sharing videos over twitter with MY website.
What would have been great, is to have the video pop IN twitter!
Either in the twitter timeline, or as some kind of a in-window popup
They added a “ReTweet” button to every video. It may not seem like much but its small moves like this that keeps the evolution of internet based entertainment moving along.
This small idea will soon become a standard among other multimedia technology providers and sonner than you know, the actions become a part of our daily computer activity.
10 years ago I doubt many of us here were Googling or shopping on amazon before we stop by our local department store. Today, because of small moves forward, we are spoiled by how easy those small steps have made our lives today.
BTW: Congrats to Vidly for creating a great looking site, a new thing option to ReTweet and getting your TechCrunch coverage.
“In fact, Vidly’s biggest competitor here may be that these brands figure out how to store their own HD media and simply tweet that out.”
Yeah, it’s called use another video service like YouTube or Vimeo that has embed capabilities and Tweet a link to an internal company page with the video embedded in.
I don’t see Vidly evolving as a service for larger companies that are interested in maximizing reach and directing traffic back to their own properties. It may gain steam as a tool for personal users who are on the go and recording video with their mobiles, but it will become expensive quickly, and I don’t know how they will monetize it. Scaling and operating a UGC video site is not easy. In addition, services like YouTube and Vimeo are sure to bake Twitter capability into their core at some point. Cool service, but in the end, fai.ly
$500K is nowhere near enough to operate this site. They will be burning through millions before you know it, and that isn’t a good thing.
Also, am I the only one who finds iJustine incredibly annoying?
umm just use youtube or vimeo?
Yeah. Just use YouTube or Vimeo. Both are much more mature services with high quality HD and serious financial backing. Each already has Twitter sharing baked in, but the experience isn’t as intuitive as it is with Vidly. That said, a smart company wouldn’t be tweeting links directly to a 3rd party video sharing service. They would be hosting their videos with a 3rd party, embedding them on their own properties, and tweeting links to these properties.
My main point is that UG video is a tough business, and the market is already saturated. Vidly may market themselves as the goto Twitter video service, but at the end of the day, they are just another nascent video sharing site.
I totally agree! the vidly guys seem like good designers, so why not use those skills in a market that’s not saturated and where companies actually make money? Also, forgot to mention, I heard youtube is planning to enter the mobile/twitter-video space as well.
youtube is already linked into the twitter stream. i don’t understand why brands, who are already on and most likely partners with youtube, would use this instead.
ya youtube rocks!!
and yes ijustine is annoying
Hey guys, I’m an investor and video enthusiast. Here’s my feedback on vidly:
For HD stuff, congrats! but honestly I’d still use youtube to upload my video and then tweet it out. uploading to youtube generates more views since people will find my video via search and through the related videos section. also I tested out both youtube and vidly and youtube converts a lot faster. Also, their pages load faster. Honestly, it’s nearly impossible to convince me to leave youtube because that’s where most people come to watch video. Also I prefer the youtube’s clean white background look over vidly’s UI.
As an investor, I’d strongly advice to get out of this space. You’ll keep draining money, with no apparent business model. instead use the 500K you raised to do something else that makes money and that brings a 10x return to your investors. I’d hate to see u guys in the dealpool!
Awesome name. It uses the prefix ‘vid’ to indicate video and the ‘ly’ adds a memorable flair. This should do well.
I can’t tell if you are joking or not given that your website contains such gems as commonq.com which you describe as ‘[a] great name [that] uses the word “common” with “q” to create a usable web 2.0 name that is easy to remember and pronounce.’
If you are joking, lol. If not, good luck with that.