Streaming video service Crunchyroll has just rolled out a new platform that allows its viewers to purchase merchandise related to the shows they’re watching, the company told VentureBeat today.

Crunchyroll is well known among anime lovers because it’s the largest source of Japanese animation programming in the U.S, with over 15,000 hours of officially licensed content localized into multiple languages. The service provides access to content the same time it airs in Japan for those that sign up for premium subscriptions that cost between $5 to $12 per month. There’s also a free, ad-supported service that offers viewers access to content weeks after its initial premiere.

“Our goal is to bring our loyal viewers a surround-sound consumer experience with the ability to purchase DVDs, video games, figures, and other highly relevant merchandise related to their favorite shows,” said Crunchyroll COO Brady McCollum in a statement.

Selling products alongside a streaming video services is hardly a new concept, as Amazon is just now getting into this with its Prime Instant Video service and online store. However, Crunchyroll is worth paying attention because of how much its matured over the years and what it could predict about the future of the online video business. It started out as a company that enabled its users to upload bootleg copies of anime for others to watch without obtaining the proper licensing deals. Today, it’s got licensing deals, a successful streaming subscription (more than 200,000 customers), and ad-supported services with over 8 million monthly viewers and 127 million monthly views across the world.

And now that Crunchyroll is starting to generate revenue by selling merchandise from the programming it offers could point to the future of the streaming video service business in general. For example, Hulu could easily adopt this model in the near future should the licensing first-run TV episodes become greater — especially if Hulu finds itself sold to a company that doesn’t own one of the major broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, Fox).

As for Crunchyroll, the move to sell merchandise isn’t actually a huge gamble, as the company points out that 70 percent of revenue for companies that produce anime comes from merchandising. The merchandise itself is being sold via deals with Asian distributors that aren’t partnering with any other U.S. companies.

Founded in 2008, the San Francisco-based startup has offices in Los Angeles and Tokyo. It’s previously raised $4.8 million in funding from Venrock and TV Tokyo.

Streaming video and TV programming guide startup Dijit just released a new web app version of its NextGuide app that’s every bit as useful as the mobile versions.

The NextGuide web app brings a universal search feature to the web, which allows you to find what’s available across tons of streaming video services such as Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. And if what you want to watch isn’t available on those services, you’ll be able to see options to buy or rent it on iTunes or Amazon. And that’s on top of its ability to pull up channel listings and DVR controls for your local TV service provider (Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, etc.).

Another refreshing thing the NextGuide web app carries over is the universal watchlist (aka queue). This is something that pretty much always bugs me whenever I’m watching stuff across lots of services, because I can’t remember what I added and if I watched it or when. (More often than not, this pushes me to use a single service like Netflix on a single device like my Xbox.) But the NextGuide app pulls all those shows into a single list for you to check out quickly.

But probably the biggest thing you’ll notice is the new social interaction tools that mimic functionality from social TV check-in service Miso, which Dijit acquired back in February. The service now allows you to follow your friends or others with similar interests in TV shows and movies. These tools help power a new social recommendation engine as well.

The NextGuide Web app is currently operating in closed beta right now, but does allow you to invite three friends. Dijit said it plans to make the new app available to Miso users within the next month. We’ve embedded some screenshots of the new service below for a closer look at NextGuide’s web app.

Video-sharing service Vimeo has launched a new marketing product called Brand Creative Fund that gives companies access to filmmakers that make movies to support a brand’s vision.

Vimeo has been looking at new creative ways to create revenue but not do it with traditional video advertising, such as clips before watching a video or pop-up ads on top of movies. Its last product to do this was the recently launched Vimeo On Demand, a paywall tool that can be placed in front of videos. Now it has Brand Creative Fund.

“This is a new ad offering that brings brands into the Vimeo experience,” Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor told VentureBeat. “We’ve always had ads on the site, but we don’t want to do anything disruptive.”

The Brand Creative Fund allows for marketers the ability to be connected with creative filmmakers that are part of the Vimeo’s network. It also gives the brand better access to Vimeo’s more than 100 million unique visitors a month.

Trainor insists that the Fund is not designed to replace the role of ad agencies, but to give marketers another way to connect with creative video makers. People looking to make a traditional 30-second ad, for example, wouldn’t be well-served.

“This is not about 30-second spots … and videos aren’t exclusively about the brand,” Trainor said. “The brand can be front and center or it can simply be a supporter of creative content.”

Films made with the fund will not be limited to a minimum or maximum running time. While the most realistic use of the fund is for short films, Trainor leaves open the possibility that a company could even use Brand Creative Fund to create a whole feature film.

The first brand taking part in Brand Creative Fund is the car manufacturer Lincoln. The company is currently running a year-long ad campaign called “Hello Again” that is designed to relaunch the 90-year-old brand that isn’t as popular as it once was. With the Brand Creative Fund, Lincoln had four short films made by different filmmakers that tie into the theme of “Hello Again.”

The first short film funded by Lincoln will become available on Tuesday, April 30. Each following Tuesday, another short film and behind-the-scenes video will launch. Today, four introductory clips about the short films are available online.

Videos that are part of the campaign can be viewed on Lincoln’s Vimeo page. Check out the introductory videos for Lincoln’s “Hello Again” campaign below:

Screenshot via Lincoln Motor Company/Vimeo

Netflix’s newest original series, Hemlock Grove, debuted this past weekend, and it looks like members are biting, with more people watching the new supernatural show on opening weekend than its recent hit, the political drama House of Cards.

Hemlock Grove is the latest original series from Netflix; horror director Eli Roth developed it. This show, along with House of Cards, clearly shows the company’s desire to be a media player similar to HBO and Showtime.

It appears that Netflix’s original content strategy is paying off, with more than 3 million new subscribers signing up last quarter. That brings Netflix’s total membership to more than 36 million members.

The company writes in its quarterly earnings statement today:

On April 19, we launched all 13 episodes of Hemlock Grove, a horror thriller from Eli Roth, and we’re very pleased with its early performance. Hemlock Grove was viewed by more members globally in its first weekend than was House of Cards and has been a particular hit among young adults.

Now, to be fair to House of Cards, that series debuted on Super Bowl weekend. That means Sunday viewership likely dropped off substantially. Hemlock Grove had no such event drawing attention away from viewers.

Netflix’s next original content offering is a new season of the cult comedy TV show Arrested Development. All 15 episodes of that series will be available on May 26. Sadly, that will be the only season of the show produced by Netflix.

The movie studios certainly get an A for thinking outside the box, or at least Warner Brothers does. the studio’s online archive site, Warner Archive, has just launched a new streaming service that gives people access to old movies and TV shows from its large library of content.

The move is interesting because it’s basically taking the opposite stance from Warner’s primary business of creating new original content, yet it isn’t taking away from the lucrative business of selling rights to that old content to third-party services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu.

The new service is offering a free two-week trial, but normally charges $10 per month for access to its content library, which includes stuff like the old ’50s Superman show, the original Jericho, Tarzan, and loads of other stuff you’re likely only to find in the $1 bin of DVDs at Walmart. Right now, the service is only supported by one TV streaming set-top box, the Roku, but it does offer 1080p quality video on some movies.

The price is definitely more than you’d pay for most of the other streaming services ($8 per month), but it does offer content that caters to a very specific audience. Also, Warner has all this content just laying around, so it makes sense to do something with it.

Image via Warner Bros.

Intel is apparently making some progress on bringing content for its forthcoming pay-TV service that’s expected to launch before the end of the year.

The company is nearing deals with a handful of major media companies –  including Time Warner, NBCUniversal, and Viacom –  to provide access to current and old TV show libraries on the new streaming service, according to a Bloomberg report released today that cites unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations.

Information about Intel’s new TV service first started popping up about a year ago. But besides claims by the company that it’ll revolutionize the TV watching experience, we still don’t know exactly what it will look like. We do know that the service will only be available to those that purchase a Intel-branded streaming set-top box that will offer access to third-party applications (like Netflix) and feature motion-sensitive controls similar to Xbox Kinect or what the Roku offers via motion-control remote. We also know that Intel’s TV service won’t come cheap, and will cost you roughly as much as you’re paying for traditional cable or satellite TV.

Back in December, Intel wasn’t haven’t any luck getting the media companies interested in a deal, delaying progress on the entire project. (Apple, which may or may not be launching its own TV service/device,  is also rumored to have found negotiations with media companies difficult.) My guess is that Intel switched its strategy from wanting customers to buy only the channels/content they wanted to a more bundled package like cable TV service providers already offer, which is something vice president of Intel media Erik Huggers indicated at the Dive Into Media conference last month.

But if Intel’s Pay TV service is going to go a bundled channel route, it’ll need to get content from all the major cable and broadcast networks. Intel is  beginning discussions with News Corp. about getting Fox TV shows available on the new service as well as preliminary discussions with CBS and Disney’s ABC network, according to Bloomberg’s sources.

Redbox Instant, the streaming-movie joint venture between Redbox owner Coinstar and Verizon, is now available to the general public.

The public launch ends a three-month closed testing period for the service that saw “hundreds of thousands” of interested people sign up, CEO Shawn Strickland told GigaOM today. He also said many of those that joined Redbox Instant’s free trial stuck around to become paying customers.

The service, which launched into beta back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, will start at $6 per month for access to a “free” catalog of over 4,500 streaming movies. For another $2 per month, users will get four Redbox credits to rent movies from the physical DVD kiosks. Those credits expire at the end of every month, so the most you’ll ever be able to watch under the plan is four physical movies.

Originally, the service was thought to directly compete with the likes of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Instant Video, but this may not be the case. Redbox Instant will focus on newer movies and cater to customers who still value physical DVD rentals, and could fill in the gaps that Netflix can’t cover, according to Strickland.

Do you plan on signing up for Redbox Instant? Let us know why, or why not, in the comment section below.

Photo via Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat

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Popular video-sharing service Vimeo has opened up its previously announced “Vimeo on Demand” paywall to all of its Vimeo Pro subscribers, a move that makes it easy for anyone to charge people to watch or download a movie online.

Vimeo has already made a lot of moves in 2013 to continue setting itself apart from YouTube and other web video services. It recently acquired iOS GIF-making app Echograph to help counter the buzz of hot video-sharing apps like Vine. Vimeo also partnered with GenArts’ Vivoom app to make it possible to add filters and “Looks” to Vimeo videos. The paywall availability (which is being made in conjunction with the company’s presence at SXSW in Austin) will likely help with Vimeo’s reputation of enabling creative professionals.

Vimeo tested the paywall service this past winter by offering it for six different films this past winter to get it ready for widespread usage. Video creators are able to set the price, country-by-country availability, and the duration of streaming availability. Creators also have the option to offer the film as a high-quality MP4 download on top of streaming.

“This service is set apart from others because it is attached to Vimeo and all the technology it’s known for,” Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor told VentureBeat. “We’re excited about the interest people have expressed about using Vimeo a distribution platform.”

What’s so good about the Vimeo paywall is that it’s applicable to all kinds of content, including feature films, short films, TV episodes, and education videos. I mentioned to Trainor during our conversation that I thought the most innovative video distribution was happening from comedians such as Louis C.K. and Aziz Ansari. Both comedians made a lot of cash by offering DRM-free copies of their latest stand-up specials without the hassles. Trainor agreed that comedians generally have been good at online distribution and that Vimeo could be an attractive place for more content like, particularly because it would take care of the hassle of creating a stable distribution platform.

“We’re not ruling out Hollywood deals, but this is open for all kinds of genres and types of content,” Trainor said. “We’re encouraged by the quality of submissions we’ve seen so far.”

Ideally, if the paywall service is a hit, it could help Vimeo generate more revenue. After fees to PayPal or credit card companies, Vimeo takes a 10 percent cut of the transaction and the creator gets 90 percent.

Trainor said Vimeo makes the majority of its revenue from subscriptions, but it also takes in cash from advertising deals and payment transactions. The paywall service falls under the transactions business.

One of the first projects out of the gate for Vimeo on Demand is a re-mastered and expanded version of It’s Such a Beautiful Day, a film by Academy Award-nominated animator Don Hertzfeldt. Vimeo will be showing the film today at SXSW. The movie will be available exclusively on Vimeo on Demand for a $2 rental or you can buy it for $6.

IAC-owned Vimeo was founded in 2004 and claims have to 15 million registered users and more than 93 million unique visitors each month.

Top photo via Vimeo

Here’s something you probably didn’t know: Netflix abandoned plans to sell its own streaming “Netflix Player” device just weeks before it hit retail stores. That device would later become the first iteration of Roku’s set-top box.

The revelation about Roku’s origin comes from a Fast Company report published today, which cites a “high-level” source as well as former Netflix employees Steve Swasey and Roku CEO Anthony Wood.

The Netflix Player device, initially code-named “Project Griffin,” started out as a streaming media box for Netflix’s Watch Instantly video service. Netflix apparently spent years developing both Griffin’s software and its bare-bones hardware to shift the business away from the traditional DVD-by-mail distribution model, according to Woods. Netflix even spent money on marketing plans, parody commercials, and such — meaning it was a huge part of the company’s overall strategy, Fast Company reports.

So, what happened? Well, Netflix chief exec Reed Hastings decided to abandon the Griffin Box just weeks before its official launch in 2007. Hastings decided that having a company-branded set-top box would do more harm than good, as it would prevent the streaming service from appearing on other set-top boxes. Hastings decided to spin-off the Griffin Box to Roku rather than jump into the hardware business.

“We were getting so close to shipping the hardware, and Reed decides, ‘I changed my mind — I don’t want to do hardware anymore. If we ship our own hardware, it could be viewed as competitive,’” Wood told Fast Company. “Putting all that money into it; getting it as far along as he did — and then deciding we’re not going to do it? Wow. I was surprised. There was so much momentum inside the company.”

Obviously, Hastings was correct in his early assessment to keep Netflix out of the hardware business and to remain device agnostic. As as result, Netflix’s streaming service is available on hundreds of devices across several platforms. That sort of availability has helped Netflix reach a commanding 30 million total streaming subscribers, with over 25 million of those being domestic.

Hastings’ decision also allowed Netflix to gain the best of both worlds. The company received preferential treatment on Roku devices (such as a Netflix button on the Roku remote control) while continuing to make deals with other set-top box makers to add support for Netflix.

In any case, the decision to spin-off Roku is undoubtedly more successful than Hastings’ plot to split up the streaming and DVD-by-mail services into separate businesses.

While Netflix is a lot of things well, one of them certainly isn’t managing multiple people on a single streaming account. Fortunately, the company is working on a personalized profiles feature that will seemingly make using Netflix with a four-person family much easier.

Right now, if multiple people use the same Netflix account, it messes up the accounts recommendation engine — effectively rendering it useless. For example, if you primarily watch sci-fi TV shows, you could end up seeing recommendations for your wife’s romantic period dramas, or cartoons that are similar to your kid’s favorite children’s movies.

Additionally, I’d imagine managing a queue of videos for multiple people under a single account would prove irritating — especially if anyone plans to watch the same videos. (That means losing your auto-saved place when you stop watching videos, and making video progress bars ineffective).

Gigaom managed to check out the experimental new feature at the 2013 CES, but estimates that it could take up to six months or more before we start to see the feature roll out to the public. But regardless of how long it takes, this could be a huge hit with families or subscribers who constantly have their Netflix account hijacked by girlfriends, roommates, or siblings.

The personalized profiles feature fixes the aforementioned problems by separating viewing activity for each person using the account. Each person also gets to choose a custom avatar for their profile, and label it accordingly (Dad, Mom, Brother, etc.). Gigaom notes that any profiles for children ages 12 and under will automatically fall under Netflix’s “Just for Kids” user interface.

Photo via Gigaom