Overlay.tv Users Share Product Placement Bounty (If There Is Such a Thing)
Clickable video advertisement startup Overlay.tv beta-launches today, bringing a slight twist to an online video sector that’s getting nearly as crowded as how-to videos and girl-reading-news shows.
Ottawa-based Overlay.tv (“cheesy infomercial” embedded above) makes a tool that helps users call attention to products within a video and add cute graphics. It doesn’t alter the stream of a video, but shows the overlays within its own video player. Users can play with any embeddable content they find around the web and grab with a bookmarklet. Publishers have to opt out if they don’t want their content available to be modified by Overlay.tv users.
The clever part is that the company is focusing on user-generated advertising, motivating users to make videos into clickable ads by sharing affiliate relationships with over 700 online retail stores. The rev-share will eventually be something along the lines of 50-50, I’m told, though payments aren’t part of the beta. But honestly, how much money could you honestly make on a split of affiliate payments that come only when a viewer clicks on a hotspot in a video? Unless you’re Perez Hilton, not much.
Meanwhile, competitors PLYmedia has turned away from the consumer space and Mojiti went offline after its team joined Hulu. Others in the clickable product placement space include Asterpix and VideoClix. If you’re going by mashup and markup features, I would say MySpace-owned Flektor wins, though it doesn’t have the product placement angle.
It’s probably a good thing the Overlay.tv already has $4.6 million in funding from Celtic House Venture Partners, EdgeStone Capital Partners and Tech Capital Partners, so it can have time to figure out its business model.
Comments (5)
Linkbacks (6)
-
[...] Ads – Another Next New Thing Came across posts on Mashable and NewTeeVee about OverLayTV. As Mashable describes [...]
OverLay Ads - Another Next New Thing «…
— 8:28 AM on February 14, 2008
-
[...] Canadian venture capital firm, as well as from Edgestone Capital and Tech Capital. NewTeeVee has a review of the service as [...]
LA REVUE TFO » Archive du blog »…
— 10:41 AM on February 15, 2008
-
[...] is not alone with its in-video ad services. OverlayTV is a startup that focuses on user-generated advertising, motivating users to make videos into clickable ads by sharing affiliate relationships with online [...]
TicTacTi Puts Ads Where You Can Watch Them…
— 12:01 AM on September 19, 2008
-
[...] is not alone with its in-video ad services. OverlayTV is a startup that focuses on user-generated advertising, motivating users to make videos into clickable ads by sharing affiliate relationships with online [...]
WizReport » TicTacTi Puts Ads Where…
— 8:59 AM on September 23, 2008
-
[...] is a slight shift in strategy from when it went beta back in February. Back then, the company was focused on user-generated advertising, encouraging people to make videos into clickable ads and share in the revenue they generated. [...]
Overlay.tv Gets Another $4.6 Million «…
— 7:57 AM on December 16, 2008
-
[...] Overlay.tv Users Share Product Placement Bounty (If There Is Such a Thing) by Liz Gannes [...]
Leave a Reply
Popular
- Tumblr Marriage Proposal: Behind the Scenes of Justin and Marissa's Engagement
- Nielsen: Facebook Now the No. 3 Video Site
- BitTorrent After The Pirate Bay: Do You Still Need Trackers?
- 5 Ways to Test If Your ISP Throttles P2P
- Ten Sites for Free and Legal Torrents
- The Megawoosh Waterslide Viral: How It Was Really Done
Recent
Network
- Green Computing Needs a Data Center Whisperer [GigaOM]
- VideoLobby Launches Template for Live Video [NewTeeVee]
- Pogoplug Updates: Gets File Sync, Extra USB Ports [WebWorkerDaily]
- First Look at Google Chrome OS — Extensions, Options and More [jkOnTheRun]
- 4 Substantial Risks That Google Takes With Chrome OS [OStatic]
- Source Expects Tesla IPO Filing “Any Day,” Tesla Calls it Rumor [Earth2Tech]
© 2009 The GigaOM Network. Marketing consulting by ACS.
I’m not sure how much people will tolerate the overlays, especially if there are more than 2 on-screen. I guess time will tell.
In the meantime, I ask that you check out our dynamic product placement demo at http://www.aweli.com/lab/cereal.html. I believe our solution is where a lot of “brand-safe” content will realize revenue in the upcoming years.
Overlay.tv sounds like interesting idea in theory, but I can’t get it to work and the interface doesn’t make any sense.
I took YouTube Argentine Tango dance video and tried to add overlay with link to buying shoes, but I simply can’t create the most basic embedded link.
Just had a meeting in the UK with the Marketing person for Overlay.tv and the potential for our clients and ordinary users is enormous.
It is definitely great as a peer lead marketing and sales tool as well as a consensual viral sharing platform making use of free video from the many sites currently avaialble.
Overlay.Tv definitely add added value for content brand creation companies and online viral video distribution interactivity.
http://www.hd-productions.biz
:) Been enjoying the morning read. Noticed that I had seen a post similar to that of Doug Fox over on GreatDance before. (My research on interactive video tech has me reading some of the most unlikely blogs of late ;)
In fairness to this overlay company, i thought i’d pipe up and say that the issue regarding the Argentine Tango seemed to be resolved. See for yourself, if you wish: http://www.overlay.tv/overlay/703
Cheers!
Craig