VHX
 | |
Type of site | Subsidiary of Vimeo |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2011 |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York State , United States |
| Founder(s) |
|
| Industry | digital distribution, film distribution, OVP, SVOD |
| Employees | 25 (as of July 2015)[1] |
| URL | vhx |
VHX was a digital distribution platform targeting independent filmmakers.[2] The platform allows artists to sell content directly from their own website, providing design, social media integration, search engine optimization, and analytics tools.[3] In May 2016, VHX was acquired by Vimeo.[4]
History
[edit]VHX was founded in 2011 by Jamie Wilkinson and Casey Pugh as a video sharing community called VHX.tv to discover and watch videos from around the web.[5] After helping Aziz Ansari release his standup special Dangerously Delicious in 2012, VHX shifted its focus to empowering filmmakers to sell their work online.[6]
In June 2013, VHX was named to "The 2013 IndieWire Influencers List".[7]
VHX raised a $5 million round led by Comcast Ventures. Investors, who had previously put $3 million into the company, include Union Square Ventures, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Reddit Chairman Alexis Ohanian.[8]
Content highlights
[edit]VHX provides streaming and DRM-free downloads of premium video content for many different artists and distributors.[9] Some titles that have used VHX for online distribution include:
Notable films
[edit]- March 2012: Dangerously Delicious, Aziz Ansari’s 2011 standup show.
- June 2012: Indie Game: The Movie, a 2012 documentary film about independent game developers by James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot.
- November 2012: "The Invisible Made Visible", a live episode of This American Life.
- November 2012: Miami Connection, a 1987 martial arts film restored by Drafthouse Films.
- February 2013: Sound City, a 2013 documentary film by Dave Grohl.
- April 2013: Upstream Color, a science fiction film by Shane Carruth.
- January 2014: Life Itself, a 2014 documentary film by Steve James. VHX powered the streaming of the film from Sundance to fans who had supported the Indiegogo campaign.
- February 2014: Camp Takota, a 2014 feature film starring YouTube stars Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart and Mamrie Hart.
- February 2014: Mistaken for Strangers, a 2014 documentary about the indie rock band The National.
- April 2014: Stripped, a 2014 documentary about comic strips artists.
- May 2014: Kevin Spacey's "NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage," a 2014 documentary about theater and William Shakespeare's Richard III.
- June 2014: This American Life: Live at BAM, the second live-acted release by Ira Glass and This American Life.
- July 2014: Restrung, a 2014 documentary about animator Randy Fullmer leaving Disney to go make guitars.
- July 2014: Wish I Was Here, a 2014 feature by Zach Braff funded via Kickstarter used VHX for crowdfunding reward fulfillment worldwide.[10]
- August 2014: Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, a 2014 documentary funded via Kickstarter.[11]
- November 2014: Harmontown, a 2014 documentary about Dan Harmon and his podcast Harmontown after being fired from the TV series he created, Community.
- December 2014: Expelled, a 2014 feature produced by Awesomeness TV starring Vine star Cameron Dallas.
- March 2016: The Watcher Self, a 2016 British psychological thriller film written, produced and directed by Matt Cruse.
- March 2016: Winners Tape All: The Henderson Brothers Story, a mockumentary that pays homage to 1980s regional direct-to-VHS horror filmmakers and the influx of horror VHS collectors, directed by Justin Channell.
- April 2016: Amityville: Vanishing Point, the continuation of the Amityville horror mythos featuring Catie Corcoran and Lloyd Kaufman.
Notable series
[edit]- October 2014: Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways, a TV documentary series created for HBO by Dave Grohl and distributed internationally via VHX during its HBO broadcast window in the United States.
- 2014: Black&Sexy TV, a YouTube channel with multiple web series.
- 2014 MeatEater, a non-fiction TV series with Steven Rinella which broadcasts on the Sportsman Channel and uses VHX to facilitate worldwide online sales.
Notable distributors
[edit]- Comedy Central
- Drafthouse Films
- Dropout
- Devolver Digital
- Kino Lorber
- Oscilloscope Laboratories
- Noize TV
- Telly2Go
- Toku
- Team Locon
Funding
[edit]VHX is funded by Union Square Ventures, Lerer Ventures, Chris Sacca, William Morris Endeavor, Alexis Ohanian, and Matt Mullenweg, among others.[citation needed] In August 2013, the company announced a $3.2 million Series A round of financing.[12] The company previously raised $1.25 million in its seed round of funding in June, 2012. Previously, it was bootstrap funded by the founders for its first year of operation.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ "VHX Homepage".
- ^ a b Lawler, Ryan (19 June 2012). "VHX Raises $1.25 Million From Lerer Ventures And Angels To Democratize Video Distribution Online". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ Miller, Liz Shannon (16 September 2012). "VHX For Artists now open for distribution and disruption". GigaOM. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ Spangler, Todd (2 May 2016). "Vimeo Acquires VHX, Bolstering Subscription VOD Tools". Variety. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
- ^ Cohen, Joshua (13 April 2011). "VHX is the TV-Esque Experience for the Web You Always Wanted". Tubefilter. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ "VHX enters the film distribution business". Wakefield. 12 October 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ "The 2013 Indiewire Influencers". Indiewire. 16 June 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ "re/Code". recode. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ Fleishman, Glenn (27 September 2012). "First-person shooters". The Economist. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ "WISH I WAS HERE". wishiwashere.vhx.tv. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
- ^ Bernstein, Paula (2014-12-19). "How They Funded It: 'Cowspiracy' Shares The Secrets to Crowdfunding Success". IndieWire. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
- ^ "VHX Raises $3 Million More for Its Sell-It-Yourself Video Service". All Things D. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.