With all the gloom in the global economy, I got to wondering whether there is anything else going on in the world of business. I'm looking for growth because I think that's what will ultimately bring the economy out of the doldrums. Not surprisingly, that growth is coming from technology companies. In Growth Matters, I look at consumer technology companies that point the way to growth trends -- and in the process introduce services and products you may want to explore.
Do you like the idea of watching videos on your mobile? How about shooting your own videos and sharing them with friends? If that sounds good, Transpera may be the service for you. According to Transpera's CEO, Frank Barbieri, in January 2009, Transpera's "traffic increased to the highest day ever. It was up by a third [in the last week of the month]. Two years ago, I was sitting on the couch writing a business plan for mobile video at Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). I was talking with a private equity firm that suggested that video on the phone would create significant change, and new technology including 3G and new handsets would change the delivery of video."
As Barbieri recounted, "I started Transpera to serve that opportunity -- hitting the market with good timing. The introduction of the iPhone has broken down walls. Media companies and publishers are responding to consumers' changing behavior."
"We launched in 2007, 18 months ago, and we are growing 25% month-over-month in terms of video views. By adding Accuweather and the Weather Channel, we experienced 50% growth between December 2008 and January 2009. We beat our best day by a third. Bad weather is good for our traffic volume. In addition, the election and presidential inauguration drove significant traffic to CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), AP, and MSNBC. There is a lot of interest in news, weather, and sports, particularly with the Super Bowl driving traffic to our site."
Transpera makes some money from this as well -- generating revenues from membership fees and advertising. According to Barbieri, "About half of our revenues come from people who pay to use the platform. They pay because it is easy to integrate and does not require much overhead. The other half of our revenue comes from advertising. Video advertisements typically generated $30 to $40 CPMs. The slowdown in the economy has not completely affected our revenues."
It sounds like a great service for people who like to watch and produce video on the go. Let's hope for its users' sake that video advertising keeps up.
Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College. His eighth book is You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.
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