Shahrzad Rafati

The NEXT Power Elite - 20 women destined to shake up corporate Canada

VANCOUVER, Aug. 16, 2011 /CNW/ - Vancouver tech entrepreneur Shahrzad Rafati, founder of BroadbandTV, will grace the cover of Canadian Business Magazine's August issue and appear in the magazine's list of Canada's top 20 powerful, young women business leaders.

BroadbandTV helps video publishers like National Basketball Association (NBA) and Warner Bros control and monetize content across popular consumer engagement platforms, such as YouTube.

In 3 short years, Rafati's company, BroadbandTV, has amassed more than 1 million subscribers, curated 150,000 videos and driven 1.6 billion impressions. A significant portion of BroadbandTV's impressions and all of its subscribers have been generated via its VISO brand of content channels.

The VISO Network consists of channels that span across all the top content verticals including VISO Games, VISO Trailers and VISO Sports. BroadbandTV's latest channel, VISO Sports, features content showcasing all of the top leagues around the globe, including professional soccer, basketball, tennis, golf and racing as well as other niche sports.

To put BroadbandTV's 1 million subscribers in perspective, their channels outrank some the biggest entertainment brands on YouTube. CBS boasts 363,229 subscribers; ESPN claims 103,626 subscribers; and EA contends 184,514.

The next big step for the company is a mobile app that will suggest video content, often from BroadbandTV's catalogue, for users based on their interests and personal preferences.

Shahrzad Rafati immigrated to Canada in 2000, studied Computer Science at The University of British Columbia and upon graduation founded BroadbandTV. Her efforts with BroadbandTV have resulted in content owners being more successful online and earning millions of dollars of advertising that may not have been otherwise created.