Mevio

Infobox Website
name = mevio
favicon =

commercial = Yes
type = Media
owner = PodShow Inc.
author = Adam Curry, Ron Bloom
launch date = October 2004
url = [http://www.mevio.com mevio.com]
current status =
revenue =

mevio , formerly known as PodShow, is a digital media entertainment network whose properties include PodShow+, PodShow Podcast Network, PodShowPDN, Podcast Alley, CastBlaster, the Podsafe Music Network and, BT PodShow. [http://www.kpcb.com/news/articles/2006_09_29.html PodShow Receives $15M From Leading Venture Firms as Company Accelerates Its Growth on the Internet and Beyond] ] The network has acted as both an index for podcast listeners and as a tool for podcasters to publish their content, communicate with their listeners and legally access and play music within their shows, but as of July 2008 the company has decided to focus more on video distributing. [cite web|url=http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-mevio-formerly-podshow-raises-15-million-third-round/|title=Mevio, Formerly PodShow, Raises $15 Million Third Round|accessdate=2008-07-09]

mevio.com, the main brand of PodShow Inc., is a social networking website, podcast directory, podcast delivery network, and music store.

History

mevio was founded as PodShow in October 2004 by Adam Curry and Ron Bloom, with the aim of helping people to podcast and publish their podcasts, and to help listeners to find podcasts that suit their interests. It also plans to use the marketing potential of podcasts by allowing advertisers to find the podcasts their target audiences will listen and allow those podcasts to put commercials on their podcasts and receive money for it.

In August 2005, PodShow received about $8.85m in Venture Capital from the Sand Hill Road firms Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital [cite web|url=http://www.sequoiacap.com/company/podshow/|title=Sequoia Capital funds PodShow] , and Sherpalo Ventures. [cite web|url=http://www.podcastingnews.com/archives/2005/08/podshow_gets_bi_1.html |title=Podshow gets Big Bucks |accessdate=2007-02-24 |publisher=podcastingnews.com ] [ [http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B7A8E502F%2D24DE%2D4868%2D8D0D%2D3E28C1A25654%7D&siteid=wikipedia Curry's podcasts attract big money] ] PodShow set up company headquarters in San Francisco, California in a temporary office South of Market Street. In February 2006, Curry announced Podshow L.A. a production division being setup by Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff.

In September 2006, BT PodShow, a co-branded service for the UK and Ireland, was launched. [ [http://www.vnunet.com/computeractive/news/2164170/bt-launches-uk-podshow BT launches UK PodShow] ] On September 29 2006 PodShow Inc. announced that the company had raised a second round of venture funding from new and original investors, totaling $15 million, led by DAG Ventures.

With respect to downloads and the audience of the PodShow network, on March 3 2007 Adam Curry stated "For the record, In December 2006 the network produced 52 million download requests." [cite web|url=http://curry.podshow.com/?p=548 |title=Download Numbers, Are They Important?|accessdate=2007-04-04 |publisher=curry.com ] (With respect to "download requests" see Criticisms and Controversy.)

In July 2008, mevio secured $15 million in a Series C funding round led by Crosslink Capital and including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital, Sherpalo Ventures and DAG Ventures. [cite web|url=http://www.sequoiacap.com/news/mevio-secures-$15-million-in-funding-to-support-rapid-growth-and-move-into-vertical-entertainment-networks/ |title=Mevio secured 15M in venture capital funding.] mevio intends to use the investment to continue expansion of its broadband entertainment offering and to launch new vertical entertainment networks.

Podcast shows

mevio maintains a small stable of flagship podcasts, including Curry's own Daily Source Code, The Dawn and Drew Show [ [http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051130_220713.htm Indie Podcasting: Not So Independent Anymore] ] , Madge Weinstein's "Yeast Radio" (from July 2005 til April 2008), CC Chapman's Accident Hash,Podshow Radio, Reaching for Lucidity, The Frank Truth, The Scene Zine,Naive London Girl Podcast, and tech vidcast GeekBrief.TV.

Podcast directories

mevio runs [http://indiepodder.org indiePodder.org] (formerly iPodder.org), and [http://www.podcastalley.com/ Podcast Alley] , podcast directories that can be used to help people find and subscribe to podcasts. [cite web|url=http://www.podcastingnews.com/archives/2005/09/podcast_alley_b.html
title=Podcast Alley Bought Out; Team Moves to Podshow |accessdate=2007-02-24 |publisher=podcastingnews.com ]

Podsafe Music Network

On August 23 2005, PodShow announced the launch of their Podsafe Music Network. [cite web|url=http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=152055
title=PodShow.com Launches the Podsafe Music Network, the First Online Music Network that Features Royalty-Free Music for Listeners & Podcasters |accessdate=2007-02-24 |publisher=prnewswire ] The site allows musicians or record labels to upload podsafe music into their system so that podcasters may download it for use on their podcasts, as well as the ability to sell music to listeners.

Podcast Delivery Network and PodShow+

PodShow announced the launch of the PodShowPDN (Podcast Delivery Network) on February 12 2006. [cite web|url=http://pressroom.podshow.com/2006/02/14/podshow-and-limelight-networks-launch-podshowpdn-%E2%80%93-the-first-high-performance-delivery-network-for-podcasting |title=PodShow and Limelight Networks Launch PodShowPDN - The First High Performance delivery Network for Podcasting |publisher=prnewswire ] . Partnering with Limelight Networks, the PodShow site began offering free content hosting and delivery to podcasters opting to sign up.

The new version of their site, called PodShow+ combines their PodShow Delivery Network, PodShow Podcast Network, and Podsafe Music Network with a new "video network" and additional functionality to create a social network in the vein of MySpace. Users can sign up as listeners or podcasters. Musicians are sent to the old Podsafe Music Network site. PodShow+ is currently in what the site terms "un-beta."

thePLUS

[http://www.theplustv.com thePLUS] is PodShow's 24/7 Live entertainment channel. "Backstage Pass" is a successful series of events hosted on thePLUS. Two standouts include the UK's Digital Music Awards and the [http://pod.sbiff.org Santa Barbara International Film Festival] . For the SBIFF event, PodShow partnered with [http://www.mediatrust.com MediaTrust] to produce red carpet interviews.

Criticisms and Controversy

After the release of Podshow+ on July 6 2006 other podcasts's RSS feeds were hijacked by Podshow, with Podshow copyrights overwriting original feeds. Instead of XML feeds linking to the original, they linked to the internal cache. [cite web|url=http://www.podcastingnews.com/archives/2006/07/is_podshow_hija_1.html
title=Is PodShow Hijacking Podcasts? |accessdate=2007-02-24 |publisher=podcastingnews.com ] Adam Curry addressed the issue in the following Saturdays episode of the Daily Source Code in which he stated "We basically cache that, no different from what iTunes does." Curry went on to explain by saying "What should have happened was that the link underneath the orange on white XML button should be a direct link to the original, with original information, no added bits from us, original copyrights etc, Instead of linking to the external feed, it went to the internal feed. It wasn’t a bug, it was a dumb mistake, it slipped through." [cite web|url=http://www.podcastingnews.com/archives/2006/07/adam_curry_spea.html
title=Adam Curry Speaks Up About Podshow Podcast Hijacking Controversy |accessdate=2007-02-24 |publisher=podcastingnews.com ]

PodShow and the PodShow Network have not released broadcast metrics publicly. This has created keen interest and rampant speculation by the public, due to the PodShow's notoriety and publicity. The term "download request" had baffled many users, as a definition had not been given. However, Adam Curry has stated on record (within his show the Daily Source Code) that a download request is counted after a file, hosted on Mevio's servers, has been downloading for more than 5 seconds. Other companies, such as AOL, count a download request as a file that has been downloading for more than 2 seconds; consequently making Mevio's "requests" reflect actual download statistics fairly accurately.

PodShow's relationship with Sirius Satellite Radio ended on May 1 2007 without any formal acknowledgment or media release by Sirius Satellite Radio or the PodShow Network. Speculation is that Podshow, having no control over its podcasts compression consistencies, could not guarantee audio quality across the multitude of content being produced. [cite web|url=http://americancliche.net/2007/04/23/has-the-podshow-lineup-been-booted-off-sirius
title= Has the PodShow network been booted off Sirius? |accessdate=2007-04-24]

References

External links

* [http://www.podshow.com/ PodShow]
* [http://music.podshow.com/ PodSafe Music Network]
* [http://naivelondongirl.mevio.com/ Naive London Girl Podcast]