Written by Om Malik
Posted Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at 12:01 AM PT

 

Asterpix Says Forget Hypertext, Think Hypervideo

One of the great things about the Web is the ability to link to a Web page, or a part of a Web page, from anywhere. Asterpix, a San Jose, Calif.-based startup, wants to bring that same ease of use to the world of video. The company’s technology -– which it calls hypervideo — gives authors the ability to link directly to objects displayed inside video clips.

These so called hotspots track the “objects” linked throughout the entire video clip. So for instance, when explaining the Coverflow features of the iPhone, one can link directly to the relevant point in the video right from the blog post. Hotspots are designated with blinking circles; click on them in the video to access the author’s notes, tags and target links. (See this example)

The service doesn’t require you to download separate software on the desktop. Simply sign up and embed the videos as you would from any video source such as YouTube, MetaCafe, or Blip. Asterpix adds a separate invisible layer on top of the video that contains all the metadata (aka relevant linking information). Then just go ahead and drop it in your blog or on your MySpace page.

Asterpix is less than a year old and is backed by New Enterprise Associates; so far it’s raised $4 million in one round of financing. CEO Nat Kausik, who in his past life created a handful of successful networking-related startups, told us that in order to gain traction, the company will initially adopt a widget strategy. He feels that MySpace and other social networks are going to be fertile ground for his service. He was also candid enough to say that the business model of this company is evolving.

Asterpix’s technology could have big implications for online video-related advertising as it would allow advertisers to embed hotspots around products of high commercial value. For instance, Le Bron James videos could link his shoes to Nike (NKE) stores, or Tiger Woods clips could help push golf clubs or even apparel.

“Every object is now clickable and searchable,” says Kausik. Google AdWords, for instance can drive traffic right to the relevant spot in a video clip, giving people a sense of what they are buying. “We hope this will help unlock the monetization of video.”

Among the existing players in this space, Eline Technologies of Vancouver, B.C., is doing brisk business with its VideoClix software. We also recently covered Delivery Agent. Others, such as Tandberg and Microsoft (MSFT), are working on their own hypervideo technologies — all in hope of unlocking the ad potential of online video. Kausik, however, is betting that his little company will win the sweepstakes.

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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. Reminds me of what Viddler.com is doing with their tagging and commenting within the timeline of a video!

    Mark Schoneveld on September 5th, 2007 at 7:07 am - Permalink

  2. Or… you could just use SMIL.

    SMIL a markup language, like HTML, that lets you do all sorts of cool things with Video… including hyperlinking.

    The advantage of SMIL is that it is very similar to HTML… so all the countless people who know HTML could pick up SMIL in a day or two. (Some could probably pick it up in 10 minutes.)

    Also, it is a completely open technology (like HTML)… owned by no one… so you aren’t locked into one company. (To have them charge you for the privilege of using it.)

    With SMIL you can even create those cool DVD menu systems…. Wouldn’t that be cool if every Videoblog and Internet TV show would create something as sophisticated as those DVD menu system… on the Web… by just using a markup like HTML.

    – Charles Iliya Krempeaux
    http://changelog.ca/

    Charles Iliya Krempeaux on September 5th, 2007 at 10:53 am - Permalink

  3. SMIL is a markup language for expressing information but it does not identify or track objects in a video. Just like search engines must do the heavy lifting of searching the web, even if they may present the results in HTML.

    anoop on September 5th, 2007 at 11:33 am - Permalink

  4. Didn’t quicktime have this capability years ago, just no one is using it?

    RetroVintage on September 6th, 2007 at 12:22 pm - Permalink

  5. [...] but also clothing, food, furniture…The concept (and the technology) are also ready for video. Apple may have just brought to the spotlight a renewed, less intrusive and evident way of product [...]

    Product Placement 2.0 on September 6th, 2007 at 5:05 pm - Permalink

  6. yes quicktime supports this capability. the heavy lifting lies in tracking the objects in the video not in expressing the results in quicktime or SMIL format (see my earlier comment)

    anoop on September 7th, 2007 at 9:37 am - Permalink

  7. Thanks Mark, for that interesting bit on the tech aspect of Hypervideo. Overall, I think it’s an interesting jump for video advertising and also video sharing in general.

    Badsra on September 12th, 2007 at 3:44 am - Permalink

  8. [...] Via r73.net und newteevee. [...]

    Video Hyperlinking : websehen on October 2nd, 2007 at 9:23 am - Permalink

  9. [...] interactive video space; we’ve written about web-based clickable video products from SeenON!, Asterpix, and Ooyala. But ICTV’s insistence on using video standards for programmers and existing [...]

    ICTV Creates Clickable TV Channels « NewTeeVee on November 28th, 2007 at 10:31 am - Permalink

  10. [...] az XHTML-hez ingyenes nyelv – mi a markup nyelv magyarul fordítók?) vagy a Quicktime: mindkettő alkalmas arra, hogy egy videót interaktívvá tegyen, de egyik sem képes a tárgyak azonosítására és [...]

    Interaktív Online Videó Piaci Körkép « BizBigyó on January 24th, 2008 at 8:24 am - Permalink

  11. sneakers

    tvaughan on April 11th, 2009 at 12:07 am - Permalink

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