VideoBlocks takes on Shutterstock with enterprise video footage launch

Online video creators are helping push competition in the stock video market as demand grows, and that's leading to some interesting strategic steps. Cue the latest move by VideoBlocks, which has added a division that focuses specifically on small, medium and large businesses that need digital video footage.

VideoBlocks Enterprise takes the company's monthly membership business model a step further by enabling businesses to buy multi-seat licenses at a rate that the company says is less than purchasing the same number of individual memberships via its standard program.

Enterprise customers also get higher indemnification from content rights issues, IP address authentication, and a dedicated asset management system accessible through the VideoBlocks website. The company said it also built in API access for enterprises that want to offer stock video through their own branded sites.

BuzzFeed Motion Pictures was the early beta-tester for the Enterprise service.

Joel Holland, founder and executive chairman of VideoBlocks, told FierceOnlineVideo that creating an enterprise-focused section wasn't originally part of its business model. "At first we were a little hesitant because our focus has been on the mass creative class. We didn't want to pander to the high end." But after receiving requests from large-scale customers like studios and other companies that use its services, the company reconsidered. "We looked through our 160,000 customers and found a surprising number had so many licenses individually that were fragmented, and they could save money by coming together under one enterprise plan," he said.

Further, the company could easily meet the other major requirements, besides multi-seat licenses, that studios and larger companies wanted with stock video footage. For example, studios needed greater indemnification from any potential rights issues that might spring up -- in the millions of dollars, rather than the standard $10,000 indemnity offered by most stock footage providers.

Enterprises buying dozens and even hundreds of licenses also wanted a better way to manage the assets they were using, so VideoBlocks added an online asset management system that enables employees to collaborate and share the video, audio and graphic assets available to them.

Holland said the new service will save enterprises 50 to 75 percent compared to buying the same number of individual licenses, and put VideoBlocks directly into competition with larger stock purveyors. "It's gonna be a pretty big wakeup call for some of our competitors like Shutterstock and Getty, which have kind of had a lock on that high-end market," he said.

VideoBlocks is part of an increasing number of stock video providers, such as Pond5, that are developing new ways to provide filler video that enhances digital productions.

For more:
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