Dailymotion is a French

video-sharing An online video platform (OVP), provided by a video hosting service, enables users to upload, convert, store and play back video content on the Internet, often via a structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally u ...

technology platform owned by Vivendi. North American launch partners included Vice Media, Bloomberg and Hearst Digital Media. It is among the earliest known platforms to support HD ( 720p) resolution video. Dailymotion is available worldwide in 183 languages and 43 localised versions featuring local home pages and local content.

History

In March 2005, Benjamin Bejbaum and Olivier Poitrey founded the website, pooling €6,000 (US$9,271) from six individuals to start it. In September 2006, Dailymotion raised funds in collaboration with

Atlas Ventures Atlas Venture is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in life sciences startup companies in the U.S. Atlas is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the majority of its investments are located. Atlas rolled out its eleventh ...

and Partech International. They raised €7 million, which was considered to be the most funds raised in 2006 from the French Web 2.0. In 2007 Dailymotion created

ASIC An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficien ...

, together with other companies in the sector. Dailymotion supports a

high-definition video High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines (No ...

resolution of 720p since February 2008, making it one of the earliest known HD video platforms. October 2009, the French government invested in Dailymotion through the Strategic Investment Fund. On 25 January 2011, Orange acquired a 49% stake in Dailymotion for €62 million, valuing the company at €120 million. On 10 January 2013, Orange bought the remaining 51% for €61 million. On or about 2 May 2013, the French government blocked Yahoo's acquisition of a majority stake in Dailymotion. On 25 February 2014, Orange revealed it was in discussions with Microsoft about a deal that could see Dailymotion extend into the US market. In an interview with a local television station in Barcelona Stéphane Richard, CEO of Orange, said there was "great hope" an agreement would be reached. Any deal would see Orange retain majority ownership of Dailymotion. Richard said his company was in talks with other potential partners as well with a view to expanding Dailymotion's international appeal, but said discussions with others were more in relation to content. In 2015, Vivendi purchased an 80% stake in Dailymotion from Orange S.A. Vivendi increased its ownership to 90% that September. In September 2020, Dailymotion partnered with Mi Video, the global video app developed by Xiaomi. The partnership will help Mi Video to increase its engagement with its audience and continue its growth momentum. Access to Dailymotion's global and regional music, entertainment, sports and news catalogues will be provided to Mi Video users. The comment section was removed completely approximately in 2018, and the view counter was removed in mid-2021. On June 1 to 2, 2022, the picture-in-picture view mode which allowed browsing the site while playing a video in the lower-right corner of the screen was removed.

Global locations

The head office is located in the ''Immeuble Horizons 17'' in the

17th arrondissement of Paris The 17th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le dix-septième'' (; "the seventeenth"). The arrondissement, known as Batignoll ...

.Giusti, Nathalie.
Inauguration du 140 boulevard Malesherbes

. '' Le Nouvel Observateur''. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2014. "Hier soir s'est tenue l'inauguration de l'immeuble Horizons 17, au 140 boulevard Malesherbes. L'immeuble, entièrement rénové par CBRE Investors et en cours de commercialisation, comporte 6 000 m² au total, dont 5 000 m² de bureaux, le tout réparti sur 10 étages et 3 sous-sols." It was inaugurated by CBRE Investors. The ten-storey building has of space, with occupied by offices. Previously the company was headquartered in the

18th arrondissement The 18th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''dix-huitième''. The arrondis ...

. Dailymotion began expanding its physical presence internationally in 2007, when the company opened its office in New York City. Since then, Dailymotion offices have been opened in London (2009), San Francisco (2011), Singapore (2014) and Abidjan (2016). In 2017, Dailymotion expanded its US presence with the announcement of several key executive appointments, including the addition of Mel Behassa as SVP of Advertising (New York), Claudia Page, VP and Head of Partner Products (New York), and Shana Eddy-Grouf as interim Head of US Content (Los Angeles). Dailymotion is available in 44 countries and areas including: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Blocking of Dailymotion

Dailymotion was banned in India in May 2012, but in the following month India unblocked access to video- and file-sharing sites including Dailymotion. The

Madras High Court The Madras High Court is a High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third oldest high court of India after the Calcutta High C ...

changed its earlier order, explaining that only specific URLs carrying illegally copied content should be blocked, not entire websites. Dailymotion was again banned in India in December 2014, due to Government concerns that the site might be hosting videos pertaining to ISIS criticism of Indian rule in Kashmir. On 31 December 2014, however, Dailymotion was again unblocked in India. Dailymotion has been banned in Kazakhstan since August 2011. In 2017, Dailymotion was blocked in Russia for repeated violations of Russian copyright law. Dailymotion also has been blocked in China and North Korea.

Copyright cases

In June 2007, Dailymotion was found liable for copyright infringement by a Paris High Court. The judges held that Dailymotion is a hosting provider, and not a publisher, but that it must be held liable for copyright infringement, as it was aware of the presence of illegal content on its site. Such illegal content may be copyrighted material uploaded to Dailymotion by its users. The judges held that Dailymotion was aware that illegal videos were put online on its site, and that it must therefore be held liable for the acts of copyright infringement, since it deliberately furnished the users with the means to commit the acts of infringement. In December 2014, Dailymotion was fined €1.3 million. The

Paris Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Paris (french: Cour d'appel de Paris) is the largest appeals court in France in terms of the number of cases brought before it. Its jurisdiction covers the departments of Paris, Essonne, Yonne, Seine-et-Marne, Seine-Saint-D ...

found that the site had infringed the copyright of French television station

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

and news channel LCI. The court ruled that Dailymotion had failed to take action against users illegally posting TF1 content online. According to Guillaume Clément, Chief Product & Technology Officer, as of 2017 the company employs a combination of human curation and automated tools to ensure copyright holder rights are protected within the destination, and it is able to remove questionable or illegal content within two hours. Dailymotion has been permanently blocked in Russia since January 2017, because the Moscow City Court ruled that the site was repeatedly violating Russia's copyright law by providing access to illegal TV content.

References

External links