FOTV acquires OVGuide
May 20, 2016
By Colin Mann
FOTV Media Networks is to acquire OVGuide, the comprehensive service to facilitating the discovery and consumption of online video across all platforms. OVGuide joins FilmOn TV Networks and CinemaNow to form a powerful ecosystem that delivers a one-stop solution for online entertainment.
OVGuide, which was founded in 2007, allows users globally to discover – through search or browsing – and consume videos online through its cross platform solution on its web and mobile web portal, ovguide.com. The site covers the full spectrum of videos including 10,000 advertising supported free full-length movies and television shows, as well as short form content including trending viral videos, trailers and short video clips. OVGuide.com also directs users to the right platform, subscription service or video on demand site to access the desired content. One of the largest websites of its kind, OVGuide also has millions of downloads of its applications on Android and iOS and currently powers and monetises a network of 19 movie and TV channels on Roku.
OVGuide strives to have its users be only one click away from virtually any digitally distributed movie or TV show, through an embedded video or a deep link to Ad-supported Video on Demand (AVOD) content, or by a deep link to Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) or Transactional Video on Demand (TVoD) services, such as Amazon Prime, iTunes, or HBOGo.
“With OVGuide, the FilmOn ecosystem expands to offer everything the consumer could want,” said Alki David, CEO, FOTV Media Networks. “We are very excited to be adding a great team, top tier content, massive amounts of data, more depth on our Roku, iOS and Android services. FilmOn never stops making online video a better experience.”
Integration with the FOTV group of companies will expand OVGuide’s reach globally, exposing the platform to FilmOn TV’s strategic partners such as Lenovo, as well as introducing it to FilmOn.com’s 70 million monthly unique users. OVGuide plans to expand the distribution of FilmOn Originals content including feature films, talk shows and hologram shows such as the return of Billie Holiday and the Whitney Houston tour. FOTV has plans for FilmOn’s library of over 40,000 titles including classic movies, vintage TV and news, sports and music documentaries to also be distributed on OVGuide.
“We have known FilmOn for a long time and were always impressed by the continued progression of their product offering in the constantly morphing world of IP delivered video. So we are really pleased to now be a part of the FilmOn platform and see multiple points of leverage that can accelerate both of our businesses,” said Sanjay Reddy, CEO of OVGuide.
“The combination of FilmOn and OVGuide represents a truly complementary strategic deal and we couldn’t be more supportive of the merger as long term investors and believers in the space and in OVGuide,” added David Bohnett, the founder of Baroda Ventures, the main institutional investor in OVGuide, who is also the former founder and CEO of Geocities and an early investor in companies such as WiredImage.com, LowerMybills.com and Stamps.com.
The acquisition follows a surge of growth for FOTV, which Forbes has called the number one media company disrupting television. The media group’s acquisition of CinemaNow in early 2016 exponentially expanded its business with all the major studios and broadcasters. FilmOn purchased the world’s biggest digital music distribution platform MondoTunes in 2015, expanded its FilmOn Originals and Hologram FOTV Productions divisions, inked a multi-show deal with Endemol and has added hundreds of millennial focused channels to FilmOn.com.