• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 11, 2008

Online software developer Vignette Corp. has released new video products for clients to deliver video-centric Web experiences, along with new rich media services.

The new services come on the heels of the Austin, Texas-based Vignette's purchase of Vidavee, a video Web services company, for $6.6 million. The services are also part of a larger push by Vignette to improve its product line in the face of deteriorating earnings statements.

The NASDAQ-traded company recently reported an $839,000 loss in the first quarter of the year--a severe decline from the $4.8 million earned in first-quarter 2007. Revenue for the first three months was $44.8 million vs. $47.6 million a year ago.

"We need stronger focus and more consistent results from our sales and marketing efforts," said Mike Aviles, president and CEO of Vignette, upon the release of the poor earnings report in April.

The new services are designed to increase viewer time spent on sites, improve customer engagement and drive revenues using video as a source of site content.

"Video is no longer a nice-to-have component to a Web site, but a must-have for organizations that want to increase traffic and connect with their constituents," said Dave Dutch, senior vice president of products and marketing at Vignette.

Dutch was brought onboard in the first quarter from telecom Level 3 Communications, where he was responsible for strategy and coordination of sales, marketing and product management.

Vignette's rich media services now include a video module that integrates with Vignette Content Management, enabling organizations to manage the work flow and publishing of video and all other Web content from one interface. Vignette Video Services is a hosted video management service that provides capabilities to upload, transcode and manage and deliver video.

Vignette is also working on providing Web publishers with a "heat map" that identifies the most-watched parts of a video. The Flash-based player can be embedded on any site. In addition, the videos can be delivered to any Web site via Vignette's embedded Flash player, through a content delivery network or directly from Vignette Video servers.