A lot of experimentation with video advertising on the Web is going on these days. There are interactive overlays, contextual text ads, video-in-video, ads that take over the whole screen, and little icon bugs that crawl along the bottom. Nevertheless, the plain video pre-roll that mimics a traditional TV commercial remains the most popular, even though everyone knows it sucks.
Today, an Israeli startup called Innovid (see earlier coverage) is doing its part to help advertisers move away from the pre-roll with technology that allows for things like virtual product placements inside videos and turning entire surfaces into clickable canvases. In the demo video above, for instance, you’ll see different advertising effects projected onto the walls of a room, from a Pong game that you can play to a RSS feeds running across the baseboard as a ticker to funny creatures whose eyes you can move with your mouse. (The video above is not interactive, but you can check out the interactive features at Innovid’s homepage).
Innovid also has an ad gallery that shows other types of clickable ads its technology can create, such as interactive product placements, video billboards (basically another video running in a frame on a wall), bugs, overlays, and hotspots. Frankly, I don’t find these quite as exciting as the clickable canvas approach. The product placements just look cheezy and unconvincing, at least in the old 1950s video Innovid chose to demo the feature. But turning an entire surface inside a video into a 3-D interactive canvas could be highly engaging if done properly.
This would definitely work for pure video ads that encourage interaction. It would be harder to pull off for a Web video show, but would be possible if a video was shot with enough blank spaces where ads could be inserted.
The technology could also be used eventually as a way to add an interactive layer to any video. However, the company is focusing on advertising opportunities first. Innovid offers both the ad server to place these ads and a dashboard to allow advertisers to keep track of mouseovers, clicks, and every other interaction. Innovid essentially places a frame over the original video where the interactive ad resides, complete with metadata. That extra layer makes the ad slots reusable and interchangeable, so different ad campaigns can be run in the same video over time, just like on a Webpage.
Innovid raised $3 million last year from Genesis Partners (jeff Pulver is also an investor).
Did you hear about Zunavision (an in-video product placement software): http://zunavision.stanford.edu ? The difference is that Zunavision don’t allow you to click on those in-video embeded ads.
Mircea,
Yes we know Zunavision very well (and some other players with similar approach)
The main difference : These companies render a NEW video – you send them a video+image = you get new video – basically a post production process, while Innovid’s technology is Real Time rendering
This enables us to:
* True Personalization – Integrate objects on the fly using our ad server – this means different people can get different personalized experiences at the same time.
* Engagement – Interactive Creative – Innovid’s integrates not just images to the video but fully interactive flash objects, allowing user engagement with the video in levels not seen before.
* Analytics – each interaction with the video and the creative is being sent back to the server enabling advanced time based analytics of viewer behavior and interaction (see screen shot on site)
We believe we’re just scratching the surface of things possible with this kind of technology and are excited to be out there and get your feedback.
Best,
Zvika
Ok, then seems your technology is better (the realtime part) and it would save a lot of time to a potential user.
But I’m wondering still if Zunavision doesn’t let the software do the insert in the video. I don’t think they are doing it manually after reading their press releases (unfortunately I couldn’t try their product yet).
———–
The embedding technology is driven by an algorithm that first analyzes the video while paying close attention to the section of the scene where the image or video will be embedded. It then subtly alters the color, texture, and lighting of the embedded object to better fit it in with the surroundings.
Until now, however, there hasn’t been a way for people to perform these kinds of advanced video edits without investing serious money into professional video editing software. But with ZunaVision , anyone and everyone can accomplish this same task in minutes, with only a click of the mouse.
———–
From RWW http://www.read..._zunavision.php
Has anyone seen the interactive Street Fighter video on YouTube yet?
http://www.yout...lZmA&fmt=18
Is this the same technology?
If you watched the tutorial of what they do on youtube, they demoed a way to mark a space in the video and then the system will track it.
We also support that BUT This is not new technology – http://en.wikip.../Video_tracking
it is called motion/video tracking and it’s been out there for years – implemented in many software packages like AfterEffects, Bojo, PF Track and more.
seems that they built (apparently, since it was never live anywhere) a web interface for that engine.
Still, while we cover this functionality it seems that it doesn’t bring anything new that wasn’t there before. Maybe tracking to the masses? (from our experience, this works great in demos and less in real life examples)
In any case we wish them luck
Z
Now that is what i call seamless video ads. If that works half as well as that promo video shows then they will be getting interest from Google for YouTube very soon.
They really need to figure out how to crack this for streaming video rather than static videos and bang, instant success. Big step though and great product as it stands today.
Digg needs to create better revenue streams to monetize their website.
http://kisalt.net/d2
Imagine the possibilities for big streaming events like the inauguration. Advertisers would have a whole new medium which could be cheap for them and hopefully not-that-annoying to viewers.
Mostly I think this technology has a lot of value for product placement in movies or TV shows. Imagine seeing an actor drink a Pepsi in a movie and being able to click the Pepsi can in the video and be sent to Pepsi’s site. That’s an overly simplistic example, I know, but there’s definitely potential.
This is move in the right and innovative direction.
As per NYT:
“In November, Americans conducted nearly 2.8 billion searches on YouTube, about 200 million more than on Yahoo, according to comScore.”
At First, Funny Videos. Now, a Reference Tool.
If Innovid.com works ,and it looks like it will then the big player might try to acquire it.
This looks really cool but I think the demo is too hip for the room.
Complex new technology needs to be explained in simple terms and needs to feature the benefits.
There are so many cool things you can do with this but it’s going to take some time to educate the masses and sell it to marketers… unless someone hits a home run that does all the educating for us.
I have to agree with you. This is cool looking right now, but company needs to bridge the gap between cool, entertaining video and every day applicable uses for companies. Most corporations with big ad budgets talk innovation but move slow.
Definitely possibilities here.
Oh yeah, hey Alex, nice blatant link to your site. Real smooth transition.
-Randall
Randall & 1TimStreet
Thanks for your comments, I agree with you and this is one of the reasons we stayed under the radar for more then a year. We wanted to make sure that before we launch we’ll be able to demostrate real adoption of this unique technology. We were able to do that and we should be live with it in weeks time.
Yes- corporations move slow, but we’re here for the long run. (we’re lucky to have very supportive VC)
Zvika
This relates to a post that I recently read at http://www.broa...-heres-why.html discussing the implications of videos as a tool useful for small businesses advertising on the web. Technology like that coming from Innovid could have a major impact in that it could enable some really cool scenarios where advertising is embedded within content and a context that buyers would reallly care about. As a random example, a garden center embedding links to gardening tools in a how-to gardening video. I will be very interested to see examples of this working in the market.
Really cool! I’m going to look into this
Hi All,
We’ve been TechCrunched! (which is a good thing)
We’re experiencing a MAJOR Bandwidth issue with our hosting company. (and that’s bad thing)
Sorry for the inconvenience in experiencing our in video interactions on our site.
If the site is too slow, please come back a bit later
Best,
Zvika Netter
Innovid – CEO & Co-Founder
Gvarrrrim !
Good luck mates.
neat. now let’s watch them kick the crap out of clikthrough.
This is true innovation and I’m assuming Google will buy these guys out in a day now Mike, just watch. Good post!
{seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/USSKf0fDCl_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:” ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/6O4osrYBAY”}}}
This is amazing. Truly innovative and engaging. Thanks for the post Mike. I am going to explore about it more.
Just further proof that innovation and technology are a must for any business to get an edge in today’s competitive market place. But those of us in the technology industry have always known that. It’s exciting to see these new ways of doing things in the business world.
their demo and site is down. this company failed couldnt even handle a tech crunch front page story = deadpool
now their php code is showing. its amateur hour over there
This looks like a great piece of technology that im sure will come in very handy.
seems like a sweet idea… unless the videos in question will have to be filmed with ample flat surfaces for overlay… which may inhibit the actual content
Hey Zvika,
Congrats for the new website, it looks awesome.
Great product, cutting edge technology and on top of all of that – amazing people!
I’m crossing my fingers for you guys.
Best,
Omer
I want to inquire about investment opps but unfortunately your site is down. Need a new host?
Great to see yet another innovative video advertising company come out of Israel. That makes about 5 that I know of.
wow man! wow.
yoffi!!!
that’s the last time i teach my students to think outside the box.
way to go!
Well I am biased, but these guys rock! It was great to have them as top innovators in Rosh Pina festival and writing a bit about them. I love these guys, their product, technology, and their market understanding
We’ll guys I really don’t understand the rush, unfortunately there is nothing new here.
We’ve seen this type of technologies for the past 2 years or so:
Keystream
Seambi
Tictacti
And at least additional 3 companies are doing the same.
The big Q – how anyone will make $ out of it – THE MARKET IS NOT THERE!!!
Dan – the companies you mentioned are not doing the same thing to be included in one list.
and in any case are not similar to Innovid – see my first comment reg. ZunaVision (that is somewhat similar to SeamBI)
Reg. making $, Branded Entertainment is rapidly growing on-line, we actually started to generate initial income and are optimistic. (and yes 09 will be a hard year for everybody)
Zvika
Thank you for your insight but I still disagree with you,
Go to http://keystrea...om/gallery.html they are not changing the source of the video and the ads are coming from their ad server, the same with http://www.tict...ay-Ad-Insertion they are not changing the video source and their technology is overly based also. So what is the big deal?
All of you will have to survive regardless to your VC’s and investors! Nice technology for all of you with no actual need.
I’m appreciating your efforts but the market has told his story…
Dan
took a look at their demos…. they need all the luck they can get.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some YouTube guy who comments the same word and flees, but… Fake. Couldn’t be faker. That’s just a stop-motion with a cursor digitally added on post-production. The pong part reveals it all.
All real.
A. go to our (now VERY slow site) and interact with it LIVE.
B. the reason the cursor and the pong are not aligned is a different multiplier in the Flash code of the game ( if you watch close you’ll see the pattern)
enjoy,
Zvika
OK, I saw it now
. I admit that I didn’t look at your site and see the interactive ad, just watched the video. Now I see that it’s awesome.
I think it’s too simple to say that the pre-roll ad sucks and everyone knows it… The fact of the matter is that there is available inventory for it, it’s familiar to the user and it provides a high level of value to the advertiser.
In-video ads (I’ve seen a few takes on this now) are novel and provide value and (if done right…which is a big if) could provide a convenience to users. However, many users will most likely find in-video ads obtrusive and confusing. Nevermind the ramp-up time it will take to get advertisers to adopt the new format.
Pre-rolls continue to offer the highest value to advertisers and piss off users the least (given enough variety and keeping the assets short relative to the blocked content).
Nice concept! but in case of slower connection speeds, the video doesn’t even load (as is the case with me, before few refreshes)
wow. great job guys. would invest 10m right now. just got a glimpse into the future. again, nice work.
This demo of Innovid’s technology is really fascinating to watch. The endless posibilities for creative advertisers are really exciting to me as a technologist and as a person consuming ads.
Innovid seems to have some major hard-core talent plus some serious Flash talent, some of those embedded Flash demos/widgets look better than anything else I’ve seen in the commercial web.
I can’t wait to see this stuff embedded into articles as smart-video-ads and in the big video sites.
Innovative it is.
The homepage promo is immersion all in, dragged me into 8 minutes of Pong before i noticed there’s more to see on the right.
Within the gallery i really liked “Synced Companion’ for its creative chutzpah.
Best of luck to Innovid!
This is really cool as long as it can all come together i.e the environments that they create are all in context of the video. I hope they are able to scale this thing too.
I just finished looking over the website and was very impressed. I saw the concept last year and am quite shocked to see how much has been done since! Tal and Tziva are very serious people and I’m sure that this is going to be a thunder in the world of ads as we know it online.
Best of luck!
Very impressive and creative demos! Good luck, guys.
I hope video ads continue to evolve because youtube is getting to the point of umbearable…all the top tubers like ijustine and sxephil are layered with annoying annotations, popup overlay ads that take away from the quality of the videos…
There has to be a better way than annoying users to do these things…if people would just focus more on finding ways to place ads which are useful…
My pet peeve is when I am watching a video and see something useful in an ad I have to leave the page to investigate more..or I have to deal with something getting in the way of my video…
The bee’s knees, I predict a great year for these guy’s, all you need is the advertisers to become more creative.
Interesting technology you have there.
But i don’t know if you aware that we have access to all the source files of your website trough the browser… (including your DB connection info and much more…)
It is an interesting concept. But for myself ads at the bottom of videos are intrusive enough. Now having ads as part of a canvas or background, that is even worst. Imagine having ads on a video where someone is speaking or doing tricks. That will just completely defeat the whole purpose of why the user put out a video in the first place. Or having this as part of a news site, even if they are advertising their own website or product on the canvas, it will just distract from the message being delivered through the video.
Nice concept. Can it be used? Not too sure.
Mike D, I agree with you on the point.
The content & brand message should be synced well. As in every branded entertainment situation, it should be done well. Take product placement for example – it can be OK but it can also be annoying.
We believe that it is up to the content owner (wanting to make $) and the Brand (wants to get reach) to make sure the balance is there so they will not loose their audience (think about pre-roll annoyance/avoidance) . Personally I believe that these “experiences” should have some value for the viewer also, and believe that our interactive technology can allow the creative people to create this value while conveying a brand message.
After all the content owners need to make money out of their creation if we want to keep getting our content for free.
Best,
Zvika
hmmm..
interesting
Too bad there really no technological advancement going on here. I like how everybody is talking about it being “innovative” though. Whatever it takes to get VC.
Trying to place elements *inside* video is fundamentally flawed IMO – I’m talking of placements and billboards, and hotspots. The reason is, they’re going to look fake and as an advertiser I’d be loath to having my $$$ high production value video look cheap. If you can advance the tech to the point they can be incorporated seamlessly, there’s a different problem: viewers won’t notice them! It’s hard to win either way.
Also, as has been pointed out, a video is a moving thing, it tells a story – and you don’t want to interrupt that story by clicking all over, get whisked to another page, etc.
This kind of interactivity does work great for still 3D environments (like a room with interactive objects) though, where it’s the user that’s driving the story/action, and you *can* incorporate objects in a more subtle/sophisticated way because the user is consciously looking for interactive elements.
Good points.
Reg. “a video is a moving thing, it tells a story ”
agreed.
now what if that story can be told in a new way?
dynamic, personal, collaborative, engaging…
think of a web page 13 years ago, it told a story… now think of a web page today.
We will enable the same revolution
It will be up to the content creators and the creative teams to find the right balance to the points you brought up.
we will help them to do that
Zvika
These products are a great tech demonstration, but companies who offer these tools no NOTHING about how the advertising industry works.
Scale is everything, and no major advertiser is going to be able to make a million impression media buy when every piece of content they buy on has to be manually edited to enable clickable hotspots. Its a lovely idea, but it can’t scale to the size of buys that brand advertisers and their agencies need to be able to make in order to make economic sense. So if no advertiser of size is demanding this, then no publisher will adopt it. Simple as that. Sorry!
Steven,
Seems that you know us very well by now and what we’ve been doing in the last 18 months.
In any case, Assuming your assumtions are right.
How much is a coke cup inside American idol worth?
How much a Nissan can in a Heroes episode is worth?
How much did Nissan pay Yahoo to sponsor Yahoo live music shows?
Total market is Billions and growing fast while the scalable TV ads are dropping.
and no, Innovid is not (just) about simple brand integration it’s about enabling the creation of new engaging experiences .
I thought advertising had also to do with creativity.
Depth and not just breadth.
Or do we all need to settle down with Google ad words(also now in video… )
It’s now 3am my time – looks like a great time to go to sleep.
Z
BTW – this is not hotspotting, this is dynamic insertion of interactive media into static media. (not an easy task indeed)
Cool – This looks very similar to Overlay.TV though.
though you might put us in the same “neighborhood” I would have to disagree, Overlay.TV is somewhat similar to YouTube annotation and to what PlyMedia did in the early days (BublePLY etc) and maybe even Videoclix in some way.
they are also geared towards user gen content enhancement,
While Innovid is focused on creating brand experiences in premium video content.
Having our own authoring environment, ad-server and analytics.
I think it’s good that all these companies exist to push the envelope of what is video on the net
Z
Nice, but i’ve seen it in production a year ago in – Tictacti another Israeli company….
This is fake for sure. I closely analysed the gallery page and its just a single swf file. They are using tricks like masking to put the adv content between the background and the foreground. The only possibility to do such thing on fly is to use chroma videos..
There’re many other ways these days. An obvious one is use something like Papervision 3D – a library in Flash that lets you create interactive 3D environments, where textures showing the ad content can be loaded on the fly. Just Google for Papervision and you’ll find examples.
I have worked in paperVision3D and it is a framework written in actionscript to easily draw vectors which support 3D space i.e. x,y and z. It generates VECTOR grpahics whereas I am talking about adding user content on fly between the background and foreground object in a RASTERIZE video which has no z axis. There is another option besides masking and videos shooted on chroma to achieve this and that process in known as Video Tracking but it requires intense processing which is practically and currently not supported on flash platform. Just google for VIDEO TRACKING and RASTER VS VECTOR if you want to learn more.
Thats why they also used old video, so that the cutted out woman merge with the background. To understand what I am talking about, see the below two images…
http://www.usma...om/fake/img.jpg
http://www.usma...m/fake/img2.jpg
You are right! its a fake
nice try, i think that they are out of $ and trying to raise more.
well done itisuh!!
Thanks Sam!
wow this was pretty fascinating, something i would like to keep up to date about
I saw these guys in an early demo at a Video 2.0 event. AMAZING product.
A small chat with Tal a year ago made me think that Innovid is on the right track for success. Watching your great demos now made me certain of that.
Good luck guys!
great great great video and capabilities. Yuvalt showed this to me last week and I was blown away. kavod
that product placement stuff looks pretty cool.
I bet it could be a wave of the future….
I am amazed by this product..some of our customers have been asking for this and to see it working is really exciting. Can’t wait to see more!
I guess Hal Danziger, Aviv Revach, Gidonc, Hershel Miller and Phil are working for innovid. LOL!