CHOICE - OPT-IN
The original idea for Overlay.TV was conceived while watching my wife watch TV. She would sit down to a line-up of shows that had been PVR'd the night before and be delighted with the fact that the next few hours of her evening would be spent happily viewing the shows she had selected. Of course, there would be the occasional commercial interruption that she would fast forward through but at least it wasn't like the bad old days where she was forced to sit through several minutes of advertisements.
My wife wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. Everyone I know has their own variation of on-demand content consumption. Some people pause a show when it starts, make dinner and then resume viewing when dinner is done allowing them to skip past all the commercial breaks. Others fill their content plates using clips or full length shows found on video sharing sites, torrents and other peer to peer networks. With the Internet-oriented method of viewing content, users also shun the “traditional” advertising. Banners, pop-ups and the like have very low click through rates and the minute that a video sharing site introduces the television model of interrupting content to show an ad, many of their users become upset and simply move on. For whatever reason, the new generation feels entitled to free content. Free, as in not costing money or time.
The common attribute among these viewers is that they are watching content without paying any attention to the advertising. Traditional advertising models have not kept up with advances in technology and are severely broken. Any new model would need to work in the world where the user expects to watch what they want, when they want it. This was the first ingredient for the idea.
THE CONTENT IS THE AD
The second ingredient was this: Although people will choose to disregard the interruptive type of advertising that has been chosen for them, product placement is still partially working. My wife will watch a video or show and make a comment about the shoes, handbags, hairstyles or the lifestyles of the rich and famous. She might simply be curious about what an item is or she may actually be interested in buying something just like it. Other people have similar thoughts about the things they like to watch from tools, to gadgets to vacations. Given the right timing, the right mood and the opportunity to dig deeper into what is being shown, these people would most certainly either read more about or purchase items on the spot. If the mood or timing isn’t perfect, they might just set the thought aside for another day. If only they knew exactly what thought to set aside. What were those shoes that the celebrity was wearing? What was the name of that resort that the cast of the reality show were staying at? And where can I get me one of those diamond studded circular saws that was used on that home improvement video?
USERS
Assuming that you could come up with an unobtrusive system that allowed people to delve into what they were watching, how would that system know what the objects in the video are? Artificial Intelligence isn't even close to being able to identify objects in video at the detailed level required. Viewers want to know what brand, where it can be purchased and what is comparable. To do that, you need either the people that were involved in creating the content or people who know about the subject matter. That leads me to the third ingredient: the users.
Users would be able to identify, classify, tag and comment on objects inside the content. Users could be professionals working for advertising companies with obvious access to product placement details or they might be outside the advertising world looking to monetize content on their own site. There could also be users looking to be paid to use their familiarity with snowboard gear or their knowledge of fine china in exchange for marking up content. Getting users to identify objects in video would be straightforward in the specialized world we live in. All they would need is an incentive and that was simple too. Since companies pay for referrals, especially when they result in a sale, sharing that money with the user would be the perfect incentive.
CHOICE - OPT-IN. THE CONTENT IS THE AD. USERS.
Building a system that combines those concepts is what we've been doing for the last year and I know you're going to love it. Overlay.TV's model works with today's culture of choice where you get to choose when to watch advertising and what that advertising consists of.
