• UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
NewsExplored
  • UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • LinkedIn

  • Tumblr

  • RSS

Tech

The Iranian immigrant who conquered online video tech

The Iranian immigrant who conquered online video tech
Newsexplored
24th August 2020
ShareTweet
SubscribeRedditGoogleWhatsappStumbleuponPinterestDiggLinkedinTumblrTelegram
Views:
5
Shahrzad RafatiImage copyright Getty Images
Image caption Shahrzad Rafati arrived in Canada with just one suitcase and little English

The BBC’s weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This week we speak to Shahrzad Rafati, founder and boss of internet video technology firm BroadbandTV (BBTV).

Shahrzad Rafati was only 13 when she decided she would one day build a global business.

She also knew that she wouldn’t be able to achieve her dream if she stayed in her native Iran.

So at the age of 17 her drive and confidence managed to persuade her parents, Iranian authorities and Canadian immigration officials to let her move by herself to Vancouver to go to university.

Shahrzad arrived in the city on Canada’s Pacific coast in 1996 with just one suitcase, and only a limited grasp of English.

“I couldn’t communicate what I wanted to say [when I arrived], and I think that was probably the biggest challenge,” she says. “But I was determined to make a success out of my life.”

Image copyright Shahrzad Rafati
Image caption Shahrzad, pictured here as a young child, left Iran to chase her dream

Today the 40-year-old continues to run BBTV, a company that helps firms around the world secure advertising revenues from videos on YouTube, Facebook and other websites and apps.

Launched by Shahrzad in 2005, its high-profile clients include everyone from the National Basketball Association, to Sony, Warner Bros and Disney. Canadian newspapers have speculated that the business is worth more than $1bn (£760m).

“It’s important for entrepreneurs to think as big as possible,” she says.

Shahrzad was born into a family of business leaders in Tehran in 1979, the year of the Iranian revolution. Her mother ran a textiles firm and her dad owned a property company.

Life in the Iranian capital became increasingly difficult for her family following the revolution and the Iran-Iraq War that raged from 1980 to 1988. To escape the bombings by the Iraqi Air Force, Shahrzad and her family moved out of the city to a small village.

data-ad-format="auto">

“Iran was at war for eight years, and a lot of my family’s success had been taken from them,” she says. “I knew that I needed a different future, and a life where I could make a difference, and where equal was equal.” So when she became a teenager she was determined to move abroad.

Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption The Iran-Iraq War caused an estimated 500,000 military and 100,000 civilian deaths

In Vancouver she enrolled at the University of British Columbia to study computer science. She didn’t know much about computers, nor did she have one to begin with, but she was passionate about maths and technology.

Graduating in 2000, Shahrzad then studied French at the Université Paris-Sorbonne, and leadership at Oxford University’s Said Business School.

Looking back, she says that she was interested in how Apple was disrupting the music industry, and the way people consumed music, with its then iPod player and iTunes service. She realised that video would inevitably follow suit, and be streamed over the internet.


“The shift in the music consumption trend was a clear indication of where video content was heading,” she says. “Audio was at the start of the evolution, and it was clear to me that video was going to be next.”

So in 2005, at the age of 25, and the same year that YouTube was born, she founded BBTV.

Image copyright BroadbandTV
Image caption Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Shahrzad Rafati to represent Canadian businesswomen at a G20 event in 2018

Initially it was a hardware company making a set-top box that enabled users to watch internet videos on their televisions. But not popular with buyers – people are happy to watch online videos on their computers – within just three months Shahrzad decided to change the company’s focus.

“You need to fail fast, and learn from your mistakes quickly,” she says.

To pivot the company, Shahrzad says she noticed that internet users were pirating videos and uploading them to online platforms, such as the new YouTube. The copyright holders, the movie or TV companies, would then move to rapidly get the videos removed.

That’s when she had her big idea – to create software that would allow these firms to profit from advertisements put on all that content, rather than seek to take it down.

Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Shahrzad Rafati, pictured here with YouTube boss Susan Wojcicki, is a regular speaker at business conferences

BBTV’s software tracks uploaded video content, such as the highlights of sports games, or clips from films.

It does this through audio and video recognition technology, and adverts are then placed on the videos. The advertising revenues then go to the firms or sporting bodies affected, with BBTV taking a percentage.

Only two years after its creation, BBTV landed one of its first major clients – the NBA – with whom it continues to work to this day. “I was in my 20s and I was very nervous, but I really believed in our solutions,” says Shahrzad.

To help grow the business, she gained a number of investors, including Canadian tech businessman Hamed Shahbazi. Then in 2013 European entertainment group RTL purchased a 51% stake for $36m.

RTL has subsequently increased its stake to 57.3%, but Shahrzad continues to have one of the largest individual shareholdings. RTL does not release separate financial data for BBTV, but its “digital activities” division, which includes the Canadian firm and two other businesses, had revenues of €452m ($539m; £408m) last year.

Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption The NBA was a key first client

BBTV now also produces software to help make online videos, and its services are available to individuals as well as companies. It claims that videos connected to its various technologies were viewed 429 billion times in 2019.

Stephania Varalli, chief executive of Women Of Influence, a Canadian organisation that promotes businesswomen and other female leaders, says that Shahrzad’s secret is her ability to evolve with the industry.

“She has constantly pivoted, which has kept her ahead of the game,” says Ms Varalli.

More The Boss features:

As a female entrepreneur in a male-dominated industry, Shahrzad says she has had to work harder than her male counterparts. “I have less room for error,” she says.

In BBTV she has fulfilled her ambition to create a global business, The 400 employees are spread across four main centres, its headquarters in Vancouver, and offices in New York, Los Angeles and Mumbai.

Shahrzad says that there is no pay gap between her male and female staff, and that women make up 43% of the total workforce, and 46% of managers, high figures for a technology company.

“It gives me great pride,” she says. “This is a key factor in the reason why we are so successful at BBTV.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Related Itemsconqueredimmigrantiranianonlinevideo
Tech
24th August 2020
Newsexplored @newsexploredweb

Related Itemsconqueredimmigrantiranianonlinevideo

More in Tech

  • Read More
    Could Google really leave Australia?

    Views:5 Google has threatened to pull out of the Australian market if a new law governing its...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    Google threatens to withdraw search engine from Australia

    Views:5 image copyrightReuters image captionGoogle says the new law will lead to it disabling its search tool...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: Does stylus spell end of the Note?

    Views:5 By Leo KelionTechnology desk editor image copyrightSamsung image captionThe Galaxy S21 Ultra has hardware built into...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    December Microsoft issue affecting pupils could take ‘weeks’ to fix

    Views:5 image copyrightGetty Images image captionMicrosoft Teams is a key resource for pupils learning at home A...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    Fifa 21 and Frozen 2 top digital sales of 2020

    Views:5 image copyrightEA SPORTS/DISNEY The UK spent a record £9.05bn ($12bn) on home entertainment in 2020, with...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    Elon Musk’s guide to getting ahead in business

    Views:5 By Justin RowlattChief environment correspondent image copyrightReuters image captionWhat are the secrets behind Elon Musk’s astonishing...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    Home-schooling: How to help your child’s online learning

    Views:5 By Jane WakefieldTechnology reporter Published 2 hours ago Related Topics image copyrightGetty Images image captionSchool’s out....

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    Cyberpunk 2077: How did the release go so wrong?

    Views:5 image copyrightGetty Images It’s safe to say things haven’t gone smoothly for the makers of Cyberpunk...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    Manchester United hit by cyber attack but say fan data safe

    Views:5 Manchester United host West Brom at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Saturday Manchester United...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    Climate change: Can sending fewer emails really save the planet?

    Views:5 By David MolloyTechnology reporter Related Topics Climate change image copyrightGetty Images Are you the type of...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    PS5 v Xbox Series X: Who will win the next-gen console race?

    Views:5 By Steffan PowellNewsbeat gaming reporter Published 7 November It’s like the excitement just before Christmas, only...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
  • Read More
    Five ways the virus has changed Netflix

    Views:5 By Natalie ShermanBusiness reporter, New York image copyrightNetflix image captionComedy series The Good Place has been...

    Newsexplored 24th August 2020
Scroll for more
Tap
data-ad-format="auto">
NewsExplored

NewsExplored - Making sure all the latest news is explored?

Contact us for help

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • Comments

  • Bridgerton: Everything you need to know about the Netflix drama
    Entertainment25th December 2020
  • The Papers: ‘Fortress Britain’ and ‘modern miracle workers’
    UK15th January 2021
  • Australian Open: Heather Watson among 47 players to quarantine in Melbourne after Covid cases on flights
    Sports16th January 2021
  • Fifa 21 and Frozen 2 top digital sales of 2020
    Tech8th January 2021
  • Kamala Harris: What the vice-president did on her first day
    USA21st January 2021
  • Biden inauguration: New president to be sworn in amid Trump snub
    USA20th January 2021
  • Biden inauguration: Democrat to be sworn in as Trump leaves office
    USA20th January 2021
  • Biden inauguration rehearsal paused amid US Capitol lockdown
    USA18th January 2021
  • Les Rehrer says:

    Hello Its me :P and thanks for this post

  • optumrx login says:

    Thank For News.

  • Kent Laatsch says:

    Please let me know if you're looking for a writer…

  • Bob says:

    RT News was where I learned that Erdogan controlled isis.…

Copyright © 2018 Top News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by Wordpress.

Ofcom broadband compensation scheme in record payout
Fortnite Apple row: Microsoft backs Epic in court filing
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok