DivX, Inc. (Nasdaq: DIVX), which develops video applications, thought it could succeed in the topsy-turvey web business. So, in late 2006, the company launched Stage6.com.

Well, for the most part, it's not as easy as it looks and now DivX is closing down the site. Interestingly enough, DivX wasn't able to find a buyer for the property.

What happened? Well, I had a chance to interview Chase Norlin, who operates Pixsy (an online search engine). According to him:

"Stage6 likely needed a sugar-daddy to support operations going forward (e.g. acquirer with resources or large capital raise). Given the popularity of the service and the high quality of their streams, they probably had a significant bandwidth bill without the monetization to support that in the short term. Additionally, legal issues around copyrighted material may have added to the decision."

So far this year, online video is making a big mark. Just look at the Iowa caucuses, where voters posted their efforts on YouTube and then spread them across social networks like MySpace and Facebook. So what else might we see in 2008 for online video?

Well, I had a chance to interview Chase Norlin, who is the CEO of Pixsy (an online video company). According to him:

1. Expect to see continued enforcement by copyright holders over their online video assets; this will drive wider adoption of DRM and licensing platforms.

2. The online video ad category is growing but not at the pace to support the multitude of companies pursuing this market, and a shakeout is therefore likely.

3. More consolidation in the online video space and all other key internet categories.

4. Continued growth in the semipro video publishing market as content producers create and distribute their material in a more cost-effective manner than traditional outlets.

5. More unique video programming, created for the web, making its way to television.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

I'm definitely looking forward to the "Dexter" finale this weekend. The Showtime Networks series is about a serial killer -- who uses his killing talents to snuff other serial killers.

Yes, it's not a typical show. So, maybe that's why the producers are going to do something creative; that is, they have partnered with Meebo to develop a Web 2.0 experience.

So, Dexter fans can chat -- with AIM, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), MSN and so on -- with executive producers and the talent after the finale.

I had a chance to interview Chase Norlin, who is the CEO of Pixsy (a video search engine), who says:

"This makes perfect sense for Meebo to be in the private label business with instant messaging as the primary application, and certainly seems to be a complement to Showtime Networks' goals. No doubt, video integration into instant messaging applications stands to be a significant trend. Although, in the case of Meebo, I think they will eventually have to offer broader functionality in their private label product in order to win more distribution partners."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Back in the 1990s, Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) cofounders -- Larry Page and Sergey Brin -- played to their own drummer. Instead of taking gobs of venture capital, the dynamic duo did it on the cheap by themselves. For example, they built a sophisticated server platform using old PCs and free Linux software. And, when cash was low, they used their trusty credit cards.

You could say that Google built a business using old-fashioned bootstrapping.

And if Larry and Sergey can make it work, why not you?

While television still rakes in billions, executives are getting nervous. What should be done about upstarts like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s YouTube?

Well, in the case of CBS, the company is trying some experimentation. Its latest venture is called "EyeLab," according to a piece in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

CBS thinks that small videos and montages are the best approach for the Web. So, with EyeLab, CBS will create new content as well as splice in existing clips to develop cool videos. What's more, the video clips can also be effective vehicles to promote television shows, such as CSI and NUMB3RS.

To get some perspective on things, I talked to Chase Norlin, who operates Pixsy, which is an online video platform. According to him:

"This represents a step in the right direction but ultimately two more powerful forces will likely push CBS to tighten their strategy: 1) Getting short video content online doesn't equal audience. Consumers want access to everything in one place, which points to the success of YouTube; 2) The emerging trend of semipro and pro content created specifically for the web is going to be bigger than people realize. Efforts like Deca.TV, Vuguru, and others have the potential to grow rapidly if they can create breakout hits at low cost."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Chase Norlin has spent over a decade in the online space. For example, he was a senior business development executive at ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK). He also served as an executive at InfoSpace (NASDAQ: INSP). Oh, and he also helped to create Sony's (NYSE: SNE) first online photo sharing service.

His latest gig: Pixsy. It's a fast-growing company in the online video space.

Well, this week, I had a chance to catch up with Chase.

Q: How are things at Pixsy?

A: Image and Video Search are the fastest growing consumer search verticals on the web. In fact, Image Search is 10% of Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) traffic and grows 100% every year. We said early on, "if image and video search are so popular, why doesn't every website have it?" And that's the driving growth behind our business. Pixsy is unique in that we can provide image and video search to a website, under their brand, with content tailored to that specific vertical, and enable that site to have their media searched or combined with the Pixsy index. All of this provides great value to publishers: new search traffic, users stay on the site longer, new content tailored to that site, and new ad inventory is created. Additionally, the service provides great value to content providers as they receive free, targeted traffic from users performing image and video search queries. We now have a backlog of 8,000 providers trying to get content into the Pixsy index as a result.

Money keeps flooding into the online video sector. And the latest deal is a $34 million round for Dailymotion SA. Investors include Advent Venture Partners LLP and AGF Private Equity.

Interestingly enough, Dailymotion is based in Paris, France. And it's feeling the pressure from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s YouTube (who isn't?).

Yet, Dailymotion still attracted 14.7 million unique visitors in July. Also, it looks like the company is going to rev up its partnerships.

I had a chance to talk to Chase Norlin, who is the CEO and founder of Pixsy (a multimedia search service). According to him:

"Get big or get out. That's the underlying reasoning behind these large online video financings. The entire space is going to become consolidated, which means that if you haven't hitched your dingy to a cruise ship you're going to be left out on the ocean to fend for yourself. Companies like Dailymotion may need to do acquisitions to bolster their presence in this category as the bigger players stake their turf and own larger portions of the online advertising pie."

If you want to check out more venture capital fundings, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) certainly likes to experiment. In fact, it's tough to keep up with all the new-fangled ideas.

One example: online video rentals (which got its start about 19 months ago).

Well, after testing the market, Google is now bowing out (tomorrow is the final day). Funny enough, a problem has been free sites, such as Google's YouTube.

I had a chance to talk to Chase Norlin, who operates Pixsy (an online video aggregator). According to him:

"The closing of the Google video marketplace exposes two basic realities about the online download business: 1) Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes ultimately dominates the market with most of that success coming from music and popular TV shows (not customer generated content or full length movies that no one wants to pay to watch on their computers), and 2) The pay-per-download market, as it pertains to non-music content, is suspect at best. Ultimately, it's the all-you-can-eat model that will win the day here for most non-premium content. The premium content download business (e.g. feature length movies) will be driven by new entrants like Comcast Corp.(NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

This week, a startup company -- adap.tv -- raised $10 million from Redpoint Ventures and Gemini Israel Funds.

The company is trying to get a piece of the growing ad market for video. Hey, with the huge success of Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube, it seems like a pretty good idea, right?

The founder of the company, Amir Ashkenazi, does have a lot of credibility. After all, he's the former cofounder of Shopping.com, which sold out to eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY).

But does his new venture really have a chance? I talked to Chase Norlin, who is the CEO of Pixsy, which is a search engine for multimedia. According to him:

"Adap.tv looks a lot like ScanScout, and a variety of other startups looking to become the next 'Adsense for Video.' That space is starting to feel a little crowded to me, not to mention the fact that Google hasn't even entered this market yet. Also, expect the major ad networks and online advertising companies to offer competitive products here as well. I'm sure adap.tv's technology is interesting, but that's not what matters in the online ad space. What matters is publisher reach and a large pool of advertisers to provide solid monetization. That's why companies like ValueClick continue to get stronger despite their non-groundbreaking technology: their advertiser and publisher pool continues to grow and the bigger they get the harder they become to displace."

And, to see more recent venture capital deals, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

It was a big year for Web2.0, especially with Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube.

But what about 2007? What can we expect?

I had a chance to interview a variety of top players in the space:

Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CTO of blinx:

In 2006, video sharing was the biggest trend with lots of companies -- especially the smaller sites -- growing really fast, which highlights the demand for online video. We also saw a great jump in user-generated content. But, traditional media and entertainment companies are catching up and seeing the Internet as a great distribution channel. In 2007, we expect to see even more content on the Web -- especially high-quality content -- and a greater need for better video search engines that can help Internet users navigate through the clutter. Also, with the Internet making content creation and distribution cheap, we expect to see a lot of experimentation with the length of videos and advertisements.

Back when Chase Norlin worked at Sony Corp. ADR (NYSE:SNE), he did something quite unique; that is, he put together the company's first online photo sharing site. From there, he went on to help several dot-coms, such as ValueClick and InfoSpace.

But he realized something. "I was a 'publisher distribution' executive," said Norlin in a recent interview I conducted with him. "This means I was responsible for monetizing traffic on as many quality sites on the Internet. So, we'd take our large base of advertisers and bring them to quality websites and pay them to run the ads. We were always competing against other ad networks and against big guys like Yahoo! and Google, and it was becoming a game of 'I'll offer you 5 cents more.'"

There had to be a better approach. So, he did something about it; that is, he started Pixsy (in 2005).

In light of Google's $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube, investors are hunting for the next cash-out. Maybe it will be BitTorrent, which announced it has snagged $20 million in venture capital. The investors include Accel Partners and Doll Capital.

BitTorrent is super-sophisticated technology platform that allows for efficient transfers of data (this is accomplished with whiz-bang peer-to-peer technology). In other words, it is a great vehicle to deliver video. It also became a great place to file-share copyrighted content.

But, over the past year, BitTorrent has been clamping-down on this. Of course, that makes the site appealing to traditional content players. In fact, this week, BitTorrent signed licensing deals with a variety of Hollywood players, such as Paramount and MTV.

I interviewed Chase Norlin, who is the CEO of Pixsy, which is a search engine for multimedia content. According to him: "Bittorrent's deals with the studios is just another example of content owners requiring multiple avenues for distribution. Bittorrent seems to have a good start in being the platform for this, but I suspect that there will be multiple distribution channels. Actually, the company in this space that I believe will be a big player in a few years is Comcast."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates DealProfiles.com.