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A Test Of Hypebot’s Collective Intelligence

Brain
Almost every week I get emails asking for my opinion of new music 2.0 sites and services. If they interest me at all, I’ll I spend a few minutes exploring the offering and give my quick opinion.

Recently I realized that it might be interesting for Hypebot readers to get a behind the scenes look at a music site or service in beta and express your opinions about the offering. At the same it could also be more helpful to the company looking for advice. Many minds are better than one.

Overlaytvlogoonwhite
Overlay.tv has graciously agreed to be the Hypebot’s first "collective intelligence" experiment.  Currently in public beta, Overlay.tv is a product that they believe could be of service to the music industry and some big name artists agree.  Here is…

the original email I received from Overlay.tv’s art director Faisal M Sethi:

Hello Bruce,
I hope all is well. I would like to know if you could share any thoughts about a new technology we’ve developed, and it’s potential impact on the music industry, and the general fan base at large. We are on the verge of signing a major label artist to adopt the platform, and the response from both independent and major labels alike has been very positive.

Our technology allows artists, labels, and fans to add hyperlinks anywhere, at anytime, and to anything in an online music video. The "Overlays" could simply be fun items like hearts and  kisses, or links to albums, singles, contest pages, tour dates, invisible easter eggs to hidden back stage videos– the possibilities are boundless. Effectively, a passive viewing experience has now become one of enriched interactivity between artist and fan. We also share any referral fees incurred with the content producers.

With $4.6 million in Series A financing, we are poised to make a positive impact on the music industry. Below are a few samples using The Beastie Boys, R.E.M., Kanye West, and John Vanderslice. (All of the links are live and clickable). To remain unobtrusive, you can simply turn the Overlays off at anytime, but the links continue to remain live.

http://www.overlay.tv/overlay/1361

http://www.overlay.tv/overlay/1135

http://www.overlay.tv/overlay/47

http://www.overlay.tv/overlay/2120

I look forward to any thoughts, comments, questions and criticisms you may have about the platform. In advance, many thanks. Keep on writing. I’ll keep on reading. Take care.

Simply,
Faisal M Sethi
Overlay.tv

OK Hypebot readers, click around and tell us, Faisal and the Overlay.tv team what you think.

Is the product engaging? Useful? Fun?  What would you like to see  changed or added?

Bruce Houghton on 04/08/2008 in Uncategorized | Permalink | Comments (10)
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10 Comments

  2. Cool technology and I love the concept. It did seem a bit distracting to the video though with the flying objects. I only watched Sabatoge, so I may have totally missed a different point of view.
    I think the possibilities are there, perfecting how it intrudes into my video watching will be the key to success.

  3. Agreed, it can get a bit distracting, but you can turn Overlays off if you like at any point. I think it is really up to content producers on how they want to create their Overlays. There are several options on what your Overlay can look like (transparent circles, objects, just a title etc). You can also just have them hover rather than move or animate…
    I think perhaps in the future, the Overlays will simply be invisible (and that is an option now) and people will simply know to click on anything they are watching for more info…

  4. Overlay.tv has some great applications and could be a useful tool for video creators when the technology identified by Machete goes live, but I think there are some strategic traps here…
    I think Greg R. [above] said the paradox best: “perfect the intrusion.”
    Here’s a more heady analysis:
    “The basic paradox of the Internet can be framed very simply: The very platform that makes advertising both more relevant and more measurable is the same platform that longer-term will challenge and ultimately undermine the basic role of advertising in communicating with customers.”
    “The end game is collaboration marketing where advertising, meaning paid placements of messages, becomes more and more marginal. The focus shifts to becoming more helpful by creating rich, serendipitous environments that people will actively seek out”
    http://edgeperspectives.typepad.com/edge_perspectives/2008/03/shift-happens-t.html#comments
    The less that startups focus on creating advertising that doesn’t suck, the more polluted the mediascape becomes, making ad values that much more marginal.
    Only a small, idiosyncratic, self-selected subset of consumers actually want to “peer produce” interstitial advertising…
    FWIW

  5. Ethan, your remarks are valid. Advertisers these days are already challenged with communicating with customers, especially the majority already engaged in social networks. How do you monetize, let alone communicate to users in this space? The reality that we see at Overlay.TV is that there is a shift in content consumption that puts the user in the driver seat. We know in the current environment users decide what, where, when and how they get to that content. The advertiser is cognizant of this shift and must appeal to user demand in their space and in their terms. The 30 second spot will eventually die out and we believe that users, in time, will use Overlay.TV to create the demand for products as opposed to advertisers imposing products in markets where they hope demand is viable. In the meantime, advertisers can leverage Overlay.TV as a new revenue model that doesn’t add extra investment dollars to their production costs, and provides measurable results for all their product placements.

  7. Thanks for your thoughts, Hessie…
    I reviewed Overlay.tv a bit more and I think it might behoove you to clarify what you mean when you say “users”…as my previous comment hinted, I think it’s awkward to expect consumers to advertise to each other (especially in the context of art/entertainment [versus informational media] and also since this creates a variety of issues around rev share w/ copyright holder).
    However, I think the technology is great and useful to content producers (who are more incented to build useful metadata into the system).
    I was able to play around with creating an “overlay” a moment ago and it was a little tough to find products to link to in the system…but I’m sure integration of the AMZ, eBay, etc API’s is right around the corner! 😉
    (These are just some quick thoughts, I hope they are useful!)

  8. Hi Ethan. Thanks for your comments.
    Just to clarify, What Overlay.TV offers is a way for advertisers, not only premium content owners, but also users of ONE to monetize their video assets.
    This is dramatically different than what other competitors offer. Our approach of empowering the user to determine advertising relevance is what sets us apart. The benefit Overlay.TV provides is to anyone who wants to make some money: premium, small business and individual UGC.
    Example of individual use: I as a skateboarder know everything there is to know about the gear, the events, the athletes in this area. I can then go to a video on one of the video sharing sites and create an overlay identifying the clothing/gear right down to the brand and where to get it.I can then embed that video on my blog, add to my Face book and share with my friends. I will make money in proportion to the amount of traffic I drive to the etailer sites I’ve identified. Please have a look at http://overlay.tv/affiliates/all for all our paying affiliates. These continue to grow every day.
    You also mentioned the issue re: copyright. Users use Overlay to lay content over top of video. Video content that is used from video-sharing sites is for public consumption and distribution hence why the embed code is made available. The video streams from its original source and is not changed by the user. The actual overlay sits on top of video like a veneer and the viewer has the choice to view the video in its original form or with the overlay.

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