The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, particularly in "Risk Factors."

Company Overview

Brightcove is a leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for publishing and distributing professional digital media. Brightcove Video Cloud, or Video Cloud, our flagship product released in 2006, is the world's leading online video platform. As of December 31, 2012, we had 6,367 customers in over 60 countries, including many of the world's leading media, retail, technology and financial services companies, as well as governments, educational institutions and non-profit organizations. In 2012, our customers used Video Cloud to deliver an average of approximately 699 million video streams per month, which we believe is more video streams per month than any other professional solution.

As of December 31, 2011, we had 312 employees and 3,872 customers, of which 2,571 used our volume offerings and 1,301 used our premium offerings. As of December 31, 2012, we had 335 employees and 6,367 customers, of which 4,742 used our volume offerings and 1,625 used our premium offerings.

We have generated substantially all of our revenue to date by offering our Video Cloud product to customers on a subscription-based, software as a service, or SaaS, model. Our revenue grew from $43.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 to $88.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2012. Our consolidated net loss was $17.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, compared with $12.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2012.

For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, our net revenue derived from customers located outside North America was 36% and 34%, respectively. We expect the percentage of total net revenue derived from outside North America to increase in future periods as we continue to expand our international operations.

Our philosophy for the next few years will continue to be to invest for long term growth. We believe these investments will help us address some of the challenges facing our business such as demand for our products by customers and potential customers, rapid technological change in our industry, increased competition and resulting price sensitivity. These investments include support for the expansion of our infrastructure within our hosting facilities, the hiring of additional technical and sales personnel, and the innovation of new features for Video Cloud, the Zencoder Service and the development of new products. We believe these investments will help us retain our existing Video Cloud customers and lead to the acquisition of new customers for Video Cloud and the Zencoder Service. Additionally, on February 27, 2013, we announced that we plan to discontinue our App Cloud platform and to instead focus on development of new native player software development kits for mobile devices. We will continue to operate App Cloud for existing customers through June 2014. In addition, we will incur incremental public company expenses related to reporting and compliance. However, we believe these investments will result in increased retention and expansion of our customer base and an increase in the resulting revenue. Additionally, we believe this customer growth will enable us to achieve economies of scale which will reduce our cost of goods sold, research and development and general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue.

Acquisitions

On August 14, 2012, we acquired Zencoder, a cloud-based media processing service and HTML5 video player technology provider, for total consideration of approximately $27.4 million. This transaction was accounted for under the purchase method of accounting. Accordingly, the results of operations of Zencoder have been included in our consolidated financial statements since the date of acquisition. All of the assets acquired and

liabilities assumed in the transaction have been recognized at their acquisition date fair values, which were finalized at December 31, 2012. The acquisition did not result in the addition of any reportable segments.

On January 8, 2013, we acquired the remaining 37% interest of our majority-owned subsidiary, Brightcove Kabushiki Kaisha, or Brightcove KK, a Japanese joint venture which was formed on July 18, 2008. The purchase price of the remaining equity interest was approximately $1.1 million and was funded by cash on hand. We now own 100% of Brightcove KK. The acquisition will be accounted for as a purchase transaction and, as such, we will continue to consolidate Brightcove KK for financial reporting purposes, however, commencing on January 8, 2013, we will no longer record a non-controlling interest in the consolidated statements of operations.

Key Metrics

We regularly review a number of metrics, including the following key metrics, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions.

• Number of Customers. We define our number of customers at the end of a particular quarter as the number of customers generating subscription revenue during the period, plus customers who have committed a minimum level of revenue to us for use of our products. We believe the number of customers is a key indicator of our market penetration in the online video platform market, the productivity of our sales organization and the value that our products bring to both large and small organizations. In previous filings we have disclosed Video Cloud customers in two editions, premium and Express. With the acquisition of Zencoder, we are re-aligning how we disclose customers by including customers in either premium or volume offerings. Our premium offerings include our premium Video Cloud customers (Enterprise and Pro editions) and our Zencoder customers who are on annual contracts. Our volume offerings include our Video Cloud Express customers and our Zencoder customers on month-to-month and pay-as-you-go contracts. The number of customers subscribing to our premium offerings is particularly important to monitor given that we expect revenue from premium offerings to continue to represent a significant portion of our total revenue, and we are investing significantly to support sales in a new and rapidly evolving market.

During 2012, the number of customers increased 64%, and during 2011, the number of customers increased 57%. As of December 31, 2012, we had 6,367 customers, of which 4,742 used our volume offerings and 1,625 used our premium offerings. For more information about our customers, see Part I, Item 1, "Our Customers."

• Average Monthly Streams. We define average monthly streams as the year-to-date average number of monthly stream starts on Video Cloud. We believe the average number of monthly streams is a key indicator of both the adoption of Video Cloud as an online video platform and the growth of video content across the Internet.

In the year ended December 31, 2012, the average number of monthly streams was approximately 699 million, a decrease of 6% from approximately 743 million in the year ended December 31, 2011. During 2011 America Online, or AOL, used more streams than any of our other customers. AOL has since decided to use an internal video streaming solution for the majority of its video properties. Excluding the impact of AOL, our average monthly video streams were up 14% on a year-over-year basis.

• Recurring Dollar Retention Rate. We assess our ability to retain customers using a metric we refer to as our recurring dollar retention rate. We calculate the recurring dollar retention rate by dividing the retained recurring value of subscription revenue for a period by the previous recurring value of subscription revenue for the same period. We define retained recurring value of subscription revenue as the committed subscription fees for all contracts that renew in a given period. We define previous recurring value of subscription revenue as the recurring value from committed subscription fees for all contracts that expire in that same period. We typically calculate our recurring dollar retention rate on a monthly basis.

In the year ended December 31, 2012, the recurring dollar retention rate was 89% compared with 93% for the year ended December 31, 2011. This recurring dollar retention rate provides visibility into our

ongoing revenue. The decrease was primarily due to two large customers that were scheduled to renew in December 2012 that renewed in January 2013. We anticipate that our recurring dollar retention rate will return to levels above 90%.

The following table includes our key metrics for the periods presented:

                                                         Year Ended December 31,
                                                           2012             2011
 Key Metrics
 Customers (at period end)
 Volume                                                       4,742           2,571
 Premium                                                      1,625           1,301

 Total customers (at period end)                              6,367           3,872


 Average monthly year-to-date streams (in thousands)        698,685         742,965
 Recurring dollar retention rate                                 89 %            93 %


Components of Consolidated Statements of Operations

Revenue

Subscription and Support Revenue-We generate subscription and support revenue from the sale of Video Cloud and the Zencoder Service.

Video Cloud is offered in two product lines. The first product line is comprised of our premium product editions, Enterprise and Pro. The Enterprise edition provides additional features and functionality such as a multi-account environment with consolidated billing, IP address filtering, the ability to produce live events with DVR functionality and advanced upload acceleration of content. Customer arrangements are typically one year contracts, which include a subscription to our platform, basic support and a pre-determined amount of bandwidth. We also offer gold support to our premium customers for an additional fee, which includes extended phone support. The pricing for our premium editions is based on the number of users, accounts and usage, which is comprised of video streams, bandwidth and managed content. Should a customer's usage of this service exceed the allowable levels, the contract will provide for the rate at which the customer must pay for actual usage above the allowable levels. The second product line is comprised of our volume product edition, Express. Our Express edition targets small and medium-sized businesses, or SMBs. The Express edition provides customers with the same basic functionality that is offered in our premium product editions but has been designed for customers who have lower usage requirements and do not typically seek advanced features and functionality. Customers who purchase the Express edition generally enter into month-to-month agreements. Express customers are generally billed on a monthly basis and pay via a credit card, or they are billed annually in advance.

The Zencoder Service includes all of the features and functionality necessary to encode digital files and convert them into a wide range of formats in a high-quality manner. The service is offered to customers on a subscription basis, with either committed contracts or pay-as-you-go contracts. The pricing is based on usage, which is comprised of minutes of output video. The committed contracts include a fixed number of minutes of output video. Should a customer's usage of this service exceed the allowable level, the contract will provide for the rate at which the customer must pay for actual usage above the allowable level. Customers of the Zencoder Service on annual contracts are considered premium customers. Customers on month-to-month contracts, pay-as-you-go contracts, or contracts for a period of less than one year, are considered volume customers.

Professional Services and Other Revenue-Professional services and other revenue consists of services such as implementation, software customizations and project management for customers who subscribe to our premium editions. These arrangements are typically priced on a fixed fee basis with a portion due upon contract signing and the remainder due when the related services have been completed.

Our backlog consists of the total future value of our committed customer contracts, whether billed or unbilled. As of December 31, 2012, we had backlog of approximately $53 million compared to backlog of approximately $43 million as of December 31, 2011. Of the approximately $53 million in backlog as of December 31, 2012, between $46 million and $48 million is expected to be recognized as revenue during the year ended December 31, 2013. Because revenue for any period is a function of revenue recognized from backlog at the beginning of the period as well as from contract renewals and new customer contracts executed during the period, backlog at the beginning of any period is not necessarily indicative of future performance. Our presentation of backlog may differ from that of other companies in our industry.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of subscription, support and professional services revenue primarily consists of costs related to supporting and hosting our product offerings and delivering our professional services. These costs include salaries, benefits, incentive compensation and stock-based compensation expense related to the management of our data centers, our customer support team and our professional services staff. In addition to these expenses, we incur third-party service provider costs such as data center and content delivery network expenses, allocated overhead, depreciation expense and amortization of capitalized internal-use software development costs and acquired intangible assets. We allocate overhead costs such as rent, utilities and supplies to all departments based on relative headcount. As such, general overhead expenses are reflected in cost of revenue in addition to each operating expense category.

The costs associated with providing professional services are significantly higher as a percentage of related revenue than the costs associated with delivering our subscription and support services due to the labor costs of providing professional services. As such, the implementation and professional services costs relating to an arrangement with a new customer are more significant than the costs to renew a customer's subscription and support arrangement.

Cost of revenue increased in absolute dollars from 2011 to 2012. In future periods we expect our cost of revenue will increase in absolute dollars as our revenue increases. We also expect that cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue will decrease over time as we are able to achieve economies of scale in our business. However, cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue could fluctuate from period to period depending on the growth of our professional services business and any associated costs relating to the delivery of subscription services and the timing of significant expenditures. To the extent that our customer base grows, we intend to continue to invest additional resources in expanding the delivery capability of our products and other services. The timing of these additional expenses could affect our cost of revenue, both in terms of absolute dollars and as a percentage of revenue, in any particular quarterly or annual period.

Operating Expenses

We classify our operating expenses as follows:

Research and Development. Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel and related expenses for our research and development staff, including salaries, benefits, incentive compensation and stock-based compensation, in addition to the costs associated with contractors and allocated overhead. We have focused our research and development efforts on expanding the functionality and scalability of our products and enhancing their ease of use, as well as creating new product offerings. We expect research and development expenses to increase in absolute dollars as we intend to continue to periodically release new features and functionality, expand our product offerings, continue the localization of our products in various languages, upgrade and extend our service offerings, and develop new technologies. Over the long term, we believe that research and development expenses as a percentage of revenue will decrease, but will vary depending upon the mix of revenue from new and existing products, features and functionality, as well as changes in the technology that our products must support, such as new operating systems or new Internet-connected devices.

Sales and Marketing. Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel and related expenses for our sales and marketing staff, including salaries, benefits, incentive compensation, commissions, stock-based compensation and travel costs, amortization of acquired intangible assets, in addition to costs associated with marketing and promotional events, corporate communications, advertising, other brand building and product marketing expenses and allocated overhead. Our sales and marketing expenses have increased in absolute dollars in each of the last three years. The increase in sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of revenue is primarily due to our substantial investments in obtaining and retaining customers. We intend to continue to invest in sales and marketing and increase the number of sales representatives to add new customers and expand the sale of our product offerings within our existing customer base, build brand awareness and sponsor additional marketing events. Accordingly, in future periods we expect sales and marketing expense to increase in absolute dollars and continue to be our most significant operating expense. Over the long term, we believe that sales and marketing expense as a percentage of revenue will decrease, but will vary depending upon the mix of revenue from new and existing customers and from small, medium-sized and enterprise customers, as well as changes in the productivity of our sales and marketing programs.

General and Administrative. General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel and related expenses for executive, legal, finance, information technology and human resources functions, including salaries, benefits, incentive compensation and stock-based compensation, in addition to the costs associated with professional fees, insurance premiums, other corporate expenses and allocated overhead. In future periods we expect general and administrative expenses to increase in absolute dollars as we continue to incur additional personnel and professional services costs in order to meet the compliance requirements of operating as a public company, including those costs incurred in connection with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for the year ending December 31, 2013. Over the long term, we believe that general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue will decrease.

Merger-related. Merger-related costs primarily consist of transaction expenses and related charges incurred in connection with the acquisition of Zencoder.

Other Income (Expense)

Other income (expense) consists primarily of interest income earned on our cash, cash equivalents and investments, foreign exchange gains and losses, interest expense payable on our debt, changes in the fair value of the warrants issued in connection with a line of credit and the income (loss) recorded upon the sale of long-term investments.

Non-Controlling Interest

Our results include a non-controlling interest in our majority-owned subsidiary, Brightcove KK. We owned 63% of the entity at December 31, 2012. The non-controlling interest in Brightcove KK is reported as a separate component of stockholders' equity (deficit) in our consolidated balance sheet. The portion of net income attributable to non-controlling interest is presented as net income attributable to non-controlling interest in consolidated subsidiary in our consolidated statements of operations. Two of the minority interest holders in Brightcove KK, J-Stream and Dentsu, also acted as product distributors for the Company in Japan. We record revenue from sales to J-Stream and Dentsu as revenue from a related party. On January 8, 2013, we acquired the remaining 37% interest in Brightcove KK for a purchase price of approximately $1.1 million. As a result of the transaction we now own 100% of Brightcove KK.

Income Taxes

As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements we are required to estimate our taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate. We account for income taxes in accordance with the asset and liability method. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized based on temporary differences between the financial reporting and income tax bases of assets and liabilities using statutory rates. In addition, this method requires a valuation allowance against net deferred tax assets if, based upon the available

evidence, it is more likely than not that some or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. We have provided a valuation allowance against our existing net deferred tax assets at December 31, 2012 with the exception of the deferred tax assets related to Brightcove KK.

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

Our cost of revenue, research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses include stock-based compensation expense. Stock-based compensation expense represents the fair value of outstanding stock options and restricted stock awards, which are recognized over the respective stock option and restricted stock award service periods. For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, we recorded $5.8 million, $4.2 million and $3.3 million, respectively, of stock-based compensation expense. We expect stock-based compensation expense to increase in absolute dollars in future periods.

Foreign Currency Translation

With regard to our international operations, we frequently enter into transactions in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. As a result, our revenues, expenses and cash flows are subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates, particularly changes in the euro, British pound, Australian dollar, and Japanese yen. In 2012, 2011 and 2010, approximately 41%, 34% and 32%, respectively, of our revenue was generated in locations outside the United States. During the same periods, 29%, 28% and 30%, respectively, of our revenue was in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, as are some of the associated expenses. In periods when the U.S. dollar declines in value as compared to the foreign currencies in which we conduct business, our foreign currency-based revenues and expenses generally increase in value when translated into U.S. dollars.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

We believe that the following significant accounting policies, which are more fully described in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, these are the policies we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our financial condition and results of operations.

Revenue Recognition

We primarily derive revenue from the sale of our online video platform, an on-demand, hosted software application service which provides customers with features and functionality for uploading, managing, distributing, and monetizing their video assets. Revenue is derived from three primary sources: (1) the subscription to our technology and related support; (2) hosting, bandwidth and encoding services; and (3) professional services, which include initiation, set-up and customization services.

We recognize revenue when all of the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) there is persuasive evidence of an arrangement; (2) the service has been provided to the customer; (3) the collection of fees is probable; and (4) the amount of fees to be paid by the customer is fixed or determinable.

Our subscription arrangements provide customers the right to access our hosted software applications. Customers do not have the right to take possession of our software during the hosting arrangement. Accordingly, we recognize revenue in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 605, Revenue Recognition. Contracts for premium customers generally have a term of one year and are non-cancellable. These contracts generally provide the customer with an annual level of usage, and provide the rate at which the customer must pay for actual usage above the annual allowable usage. For these services, we recognize the annual fee ratably as revenue each month. Should a customer's usage of our services exceed the annual allowable level, revenue is recognized for such excess in the period of the usage. Contracts for volume customers are generally month-to-month arrangements, have a maximum monthly level of usage and provide the rate at which the customer must pay for actual usage above the monthly allowable usage. The monthly volume subscription and support and usage fees are recognized as revenue during the period in which the related cash is collected.

Revenue recognition commences upon the later of when the application is placed in a production environment, or when all revenue recognition criteria have been met.

Professional services and other revenue sold on a stand-alone basis are recognized as the services are performed, subject to any refund or other obligation.

Deferred revenue includes amounts billed to customers for which revenue has not been recognized, and primarily consists of the unearned portion of annual software subscription and support fees, and deferred initiation and professional service fees.

Revenue is presented net of any taxes collected from customers.

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