Making money with online video is no easy task, just ask Google. It's king of the hill video sharing service YouTube continues to operate in the red almost 5 years after its initial release, a reality which makes us wonder how anyone without Google's nearly infinite resources could possibly survive in this space. The latest competitor to bite the dust is Veoh, which if you haven't heard of it, was aiming to fill the void of copy protected content that was created when Google purged its archives at the behest of the TV networks a few years back.
The ultimate goal of Veoh was to give users access to major studio content and independent productions, but costly legal battles, primarily with Vivendi's Universal Music Group ended up overwhelming the good intentions of founder Dmitry Shapiro. Veoh had content agreements in place with CBS, ABC, Viacom, MTV, and even ESPN. At its peak the service was hosting almost 28 million users per month, but ultimately was unsustainable. Early investors in the service include some pretty big names such as Walt Disney, Goldman Sachs, Time Warner, Adobe Systems, and even some ex Viacom executives.
On Shapiro's blog he stated the company would file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in response to the difficult economy, and also due to his ongoing legal woes with Vivendi, but the most likely scenario at this point ends with Veoh liquidating its assets and rejoining the internet ether from which all web 2.0 spawns.
If you haven't had an opportunity to check the service out yet, now may be your last chance. Any Veoh fans out there?
