Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 1:13 PM PT

 

VideoEgg Declares Turf War on YouTube

VideoEgg, which has gotten more than a few press mentions today regarding the similarity of its overlaid video ad format to the one YouTube just launched, isn’t pulling any punches.

videoegg.jpg

The San Francisco-based startup has redesigned its homepage to state “Welcome, YouTube. Seriously.” And then, for clarification: “We invented the video overlay ad about a year ago. We are delighted that the market is finally catcing on to a vital new approach to video advertising.”

Invented the overlay? I’m not quite sure that’s true. YouTube’s ads do look similar to VideoEgg’s, but then so do ScanScout’s and a number of other players. And it’s not like we can’t all imagine what would happen if CNN or the Home Shopping Network were clickable.

VideoEgg, which provides ad- and video-hosting services to a network of sites such as Bebo and Hi5, isn’t a consumer-facing company, so it’s not like many people are going to happen upon this declaration of war. But still, it’s pretty feisty.

Update: More detail comes from Epicenter, which links to the Apple-versus-IBM ad that inspired the taunt, and VideoEgg’s patent portfolio.

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Topic: Money & Power, Startups

Comments (8)

  • Vidavee developed interactive and rendered video ads in ‘05, with 8 issued patents (prior art in ’90’s) and new published patents (prior art in ‘05).

    Thomas Gilley — 2:32 PM on August 22, 2007 Reply

  • Cute. Well, they got you to link to them, which was part of the plan, I’m sure.

    Welcome to Every Sci-Fi Story Written Since 1985, VideoEgg.

    Phil Nelson — 4:23 PM on August 22, 2007 Reply

  • Aren’t the documents referenced by the PTO link applications for patents and not granted patents? If so, it wouldn’t be a patent portfolio until approved and issued. Fly-over advertising is not new and existed well before VideoEgg or YouTube began business.

    David Geller — 6:40 PM on August 22, 2007 Reply

  • I think it’s misleading that Videoegg claims to have “14 of the 20 top social networks” as a value proposition to advertisers. Their social ad network is so skewed; Bebo is 13-17 yr olds out of the UK. Hi5 is predominantly Portuguese. And Military.com?…that rules out the likes of Nestle, Apple, Unilever wanting to show ads on videos that depict tanks blowing up Iraqis. And trying to patent an”overlay” is like trying to patent the 468×60 banner.

    Sabastien — 10:11 PM on August 22, 2007 Reply

  • Video Egg (and everyone else who sells online video overlays) should genuinely welcome Youtube into the industry and be glad that they are adopting the overlay unit. They are the only players who have the scale and the relationships to turn it into a standard, which is good for everyone who sells overlays. More at the Lightspeed blog at http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2007/08/23/youtubes-entry-into-online-video-overlay-will-be-good-for-its-competitors/

    jeremyliew — 10:55 AM on August 23, 2007 Reply

  • Just so you all we at VideoClix have prior art of Video Overlays Ads going back to 1999, your all welcome, Seriously :) …. Battle it out … whoever wins.. come talk to us…

    Cheers

    VCXJames — 2:52 AM on August 24, 2007 Reply

  • Why anyone would want to be tied to either platform is beyond me. Isn’t a white-label solution like Fliqz a better way to go?

    techguy — 9:36 AM on August 24, 2007 Reply

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