Norwegian broadcasters were very early to launch large-scale online video services compared to the rest of Europe. TV2's heavy investment into in-house platform development has been a response to two factors i.) a pro-active public broadcaster, which has also developed an advanced in-house platform, and ii.) the lack of third-party solutions at the time when it was launching its own services. IHS Screen Digest understands that despite building one of the very few successful to date online video subscription services in Europe, TV2 is looking to diversify its business in order to meet the continued investment required to keep an online video platform in line with ever increasing demands.

The online video SaaS platform space already has several strong competitors, such as Brightcove, Ooyala, and aspiring Kit Digital, which has recently been on acquisition spree in order to ramp up their offer. However, these companies have seen much of their growth outside the TV space from traditional publishers and non-traditional video outlets (e.g. retailers). Where Vimond stands out in this market is that it was built by a broadcaster, for a broadcaster's needs; only Comcast subsidiary thePlatfrom has a similar TV-focused pedigree.

Nevertheless, majority of the larger European and North American broadcasters are reliant on in-house solutions, although platform development is often outsourced to third parties: systems integrator ioko, for instance, has developed platforms for British broadcasters ITV and Channel 4. Consequently we expect that the real opportunity for Vimond will be to exploit the challenges created for smaller broadcasters by the ongoing wave of service expansion to multiple devices and the continual need to invest in upgrading an in-house platform. These smaller broadcasters might find a SaaS offer from a fellow TV company with a track record of launching a successful subscription service particularly attractive. Were it a standalone service without such a USP Vimond's prospects in a competitive, consolidating market would be bleak; however, as an addition to TV2 Sumo the white-label service already has a proven track record of powering other broadcaster services, the spin-off will allow the broadcaster to more effectively market its SaaS platform.