

Amazon Startup Challenge Videos (including Justin.tv) - kvogt
http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/amazon_startupchallenge.jsp

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plusbryan
I love the Justin.tv guys, but they have some stiff competition. ooyala.com is
without a doubt a groundbreaking, utterly game-changing idea. If they can
actually do what they say they can in the video, this could change online
video and TV forever. perhaps even justin.tv!

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rontr
I don't see what's game-changing about Ooyala. Can you please elaborate?

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plusbryan
The bit about making elements in video clickable. I don't know if this is
automatic detection or a manual process, but either way, ad targeting within
video would be pretty phenomenal.

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axod
Would people use it though? Surely it's a...

"I want to watch the rest of this video" vs "I'm going to click on this
toaster and see special offers for toasters"

Seems like either the video will be so boring people will want to escape via
adverts, or the video will be interesting and no one will click on 'ads'.

Perhaps I'm missing something.

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rontr
I have the same impression. Plus, I think poor usability will kill it. I can't
imagine my mom (the mom test is always important) clicking on objects in a
video to see "relevant" offers. And the frustration level will be very high
once a user clicks a few times and doesn't get what she wants or expects. Some
people would click on an actor to see his bio and others would be interested
in his shirt. Others will click on the wrong thing because the scene will have
changed at that instant.

It seems like cool technology, but a bad product. I wouldn't invest. Go
Justin.tv :)

Aside: the other startups in the challenge -- the ones the didn't get a lot of
votes (apparently the voting has turned into a popularity contest) look both
interesting and promising. Their founders may not be in their 20's, but I
would invest in them over Ooyala and Justin.tv -- especially Commerce360.

