Ooyala - the 'next YouTube' hope on which Telstra burned half a billion dollars - has been sold to Brightcove for an undisclosed sum.

The Australian telco, which bought US-based Ooyala in two stages between 2012-2014 for more than A$500 million during former chief David Thodey's leadership, wrote its value down to zero last year, selling it back to management in October.

There was talk then of growth, with chief executive Jonathan Huberman saying the buyback ushered in "an exciting new chapter" for the company. "We're now much better equipped to more nimbly drive Ooyala's growth -innovating our own technologies as well as acquiring others that deliver the best customer satisfaction."

Earlier it had opened an office in Chennai, India with plans to hire more than 100 staff.

While Brightcove, which provides cloud services for video, is now taking over "substantial portions" of Ooyala's engineering, support and sales staff - including operations in Guadalajara, Mexico - it is not clear what that means for Huberman

A definitive agreement to acquire the Ooyala's online video platform business covers Ooyala's technology including the Backlot content management and publishing platform, Analytics, Live and underlying IP and associated patents. Brightcove says it intends to take on all the business's global customer, reseller, and partner relationships, and will integrate aspects of Ooyala's technology into its own platform "to provide a more robust global offering for all customers".

Brightcove chief executive Jeff Ray says Ooyala has "tremendous global customers who understand the power of video and its ability to transform business and reach new customers".

The transaction immediately grows Brightcove's global workforce, "accelerates our ability to deliver faster innovation and deeper support for all customers," he says.

"We also will increase our market reach and further strengthen our ability to secure new business in key target markets."