Ooyala, a video platform founded by seasoned Google veterans, has launched a powerful new analytics backend for its service that it calls Backlot Analytics. The new analytics software allows content providers to get an extremely detailed data on their users’ viewing behaviors, helping them tweak their ad placement and future content selection. Backlot Analytics will be available as a native application in Adobe AIR, and will also work in the browser.
Included among the features in Backlot Analytics are graphs that detail exactly when users rewind or stop watching a video. Publishers can use this data to determine when to position their ads (for example, they might find that users are far more likely to drop off if there is an ad in the first thirty seconds of a video, but that there is little impact if the ad comes after one minute). Ooyala features a drag-and-drop interface that makes such adjustments easy – users can simply drag their ads to a new place in the video timeline, and the system will immediately adapt for future plays without having to render anything.
The new version also includes support for Geo- and Domain-reporting, as well as an API allowing developers to integrate the platform into existing management systems.
Ooyala launched in late 2007, and won Amazon’s AWS Startup-Challenge. The site has since partnered with thousands of media providers, including National Geographic, TV Guide, AOL, and Warner Brothers.
To keep costs low, Ooyala has partnered with numerous Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), buying their “excess bandwidth” for a bargain price. Excess bandwidth is typically available when there are lulls in Internet demand, and Ooyala says that these lulls come at a predicable hour: dinner time. Using using a patented polling technique, Ooyala “chases” dinner time (and other off-peak hours) around the world to minimize their bandwidth costs. But they have to stay on their toes – immediately after dinner there is always a spike that the company attributes to one thing: “Porn time”.
As a teaser for their analytics, Ooyala filmed the following interview at our TechCrunch50 conference, which has been syndicated to four websites in the last 24 hours. Here are some of the stats they’ve given us:
It received 2666 displays
It was played 228 times
173 people watched at least 50% of the video
People rewinded the video when Ashton was talking about creativity in online video and when he talked about monetizing content.
Ooyala competes with a number of other video platforms including Brightcove and Move Networks. You can see some recent thoughts on video platforms from Brightcove’s Jeremy Allaire here.
Remember the Janet Jackson nipple slip during the 2004 Superbowl?
If that game was streamed live on the web, I wonder how many times that scene would have been replayed…..too bad Ooyala wasn’t around back then…..
Is it just me or is half of a startup’s marketing done when they get press stating they’re ‘ex-Google employees’ like we should all flock to their product and sign up? Is it humanly possible their startup fails, just like many others?
No kidding. I’m sick of it too. Cuil was started by Ex-Googlers and it’s a steaming pile of shit.
I missed the steam and stepped right in the pile.
it’s good
What a wow! Great things!
We’ve been testing Ooyala since early July and the feedback from users has been great.
To see the quality, check out this 480p trailer we loaded just to test the HD – http://www.real.../test/ember.php
Because of Ooyala, we went out and bought HD cameras to shoot all our content from now on.
We are switching everything from Brightcove, especially since BC started giving us a major headache with the music videos the record labels have given us (have to jump through a few hoops with BC to be our backend video provider but don’t have to with Ooyala).
I can’t wait to test out the ad server and 3rd party ad integration that they allow (DoubleClick, Google and more).
Ooyala, Brightcove — they all use Flash video. So the real differentiation between these companies comes in the services that their CMS/ Analytics/ and general Platform can do/ handle.
http://hmmconve...nt.blogspot.com
Seems like the ex-Google guys are starting to come out of the wood work. I think it’s good for everyone. Well, maybe not Bill.
Well now that google is settling into it’s roll as a “big” company they are starting to bleed the intelligent people that got them to where they are today. Unless they come out with something more powerful than an enhanced resolution google earth… they are going to be constrained to being the most powerful search platform and data warehousing company. Adwords and in general advertising was the only thing that gave google the incredible market cap it has. But purchases like youtube for $1B to get visability are not sound long-term plans.
This is only good for the 12(?) Ooyala clients – the web runs on many, many platforms and most of them offer similar insights into their plays. When a company can easily integrate an analytics package into all the players then it will be news.
OOYALA ? Great! {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/rkYgZlPvQ9_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”OOYALA ? Great! ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/SMKHWn8N42″}}}
“rewinded”?? Sigh… Rewound, my friend, rewound.
Can you rewind online video? I mean, there is no physical tape winding around wheels or anything.
Familiar terms are used to express the functionality of “new” technology, so the people exposed to it know or at least have an idea of what it does.
You find lots of examples, like why do we still “hangup” a phone call? Or use the word “Dial” to call someone? There were never mobile phones with dials and you can’t hangup a mobile phone.
I guess you could say that technology evolves and so do terms associated with it. If that makes sense at all.
Brightcove just had a heart attack.
@davidmullings That is interesting to see you are switching from Brightcove to Ooyala so soon, although if Brightcove’s distrubtion partners are anything to go by:
http://tinyurl.com/5qnrfy
It is no surprise you would look for alternatives, does that HD content run through their servers OK. I made note of the fact the video is optimized to each indiviual users internet connection, so does that mean that even with a high specced machine with good graphics the video would still be of good HD quality for a slower connection?
great product
i dont blame them for saying they are from google. having google on your resume is a big plus i would take it helps in getting funded
We love Ooyala. In case anyone is interested, we put up an interview with the Lead Engineer from Ooyala who worked on the new analytics suite. Interview here – http://www.reel...view-analytics/
I’ve been using Brightcove since it was introduced a few years ago. I saw this on Techcrunch today and signed up. Brightcove has been the best I have found so far, but I like the analytics that Ooyala is providing. I’ll continue to try it out and see if it’s a replacement for Brightcove.
Keep up the great work Ooyala.
Brightcove take note: you shouldn’t have done away with those valuable analytics that showed the percentage of how much of the video was played.
By the way, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with letting people know that the founders were from Google either. If they were smart enough to leave Google while it was losing its mojo then add another +++ for their smarts (IMO) and having enough guts to go for it on their own.
Can give a try to these peoples
i thought google folks were all smart…boy was i wrong.
i met this one kid and bragging how he was at google doing all this stuff in asia. anyhow, i was pitching a familiar product to him, advertising, and he said huh? i don’t get it. i almost fell over. having google on your resume is like an mba, it just gets you in the door bro.
speaking about getting in the door. i met a vc, at a top firm in the valley, who is a son of a very famous law firm. the most famous law firm in the valley. this dude was duhhhummm. having a mba from a top school and not being able to comprehend a pitch. thank your dad and your last name buddy. i would hire you.