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Up With Veeple

Veeple has a pretty simple proposition: Spend $49 a month for its service and you might generate an 18.1% click-through rate, too, just as its 100-plus customers did in its first month. The interactive video technology firm, which launched in October, offers Web publishers the ability to make anything in a video clickable. For instance, if the video of President-elect Barack Obama's acceptance speech were Veeple-powered, you could click on Obama striding from the podium and be taken to his Web site in a pop-up. Or, if you were watching Wayne's World, and you got hungry just watching Wayne opening up a pizza box, you could click on it and order your own.

Veeple also provides many of the industry-standard features that online video technology firms must have in their toolboxes, such as a video player, content management, delivery and analytics.

That puts Veeple right in the crosshairs of entrenched Internet TV technology providers like Brightcove,
thePlatform, PermissionTV, and upload services like Blip.tv, Viddler and Vimeo.

Veeple is challenged by the fact that they're a little late to the party; those companies have been landing customers and building audiences for a few years now. But Veeple is betting on interactivity as its secret sauce. Users can create hot spots in videos that link anywhere on the Web, including Facebook, eBay and Amazon. Web publishers can add in-stream text, links, graphics, product images, thought bubbles and other elements to enhance their videos. "It makes any video on the Internet clickable and interactive," says Scott Broomfield, CEO of Veeple.

"We want to take the passive experience of viewing video and marry it to the Web, so you can improve your storytelling and make it interactive."

Early customers include AmazingTechProducts.com, which lets users click through to a product's Web site; Yale University, which uses Veeple-powered captions for foreign-language education; and the blog Global Social Media Network, which lets users click through to a Twitter feed. Broomfield says he's not aiming for the customer base of a company like Brightcove, which targets big media companies. Rather, Broomfield is reaching out to video bloggers, schools, artists and businesses. "You don't come to Veeple to post your video there. You come to register for your service and you post your video on your own site," Broomfield says.

In addition to upload and interactivity, Veeple offers comprehensive analytics. In the first month after launch, the company signed up 116 customers from various sectors, such as technology, gaming, entertainment and social networking. During that time, those customers generated an 18.1% click-through rate across
their videos.

Web publishers can also sell ads in their content, but Broomfield says Veeple doesn't want a share. "We make money through the monthly fee. Customers should own and keep every single ad dollar they can monetize from their sponsors."

5 comments about "Up With Veeple".
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  1. Ted Rubin from The Rubin Organization / Return on Relationship, January 2, 2009 at 9:40 a.m.

    Very interesting proposition that may work incredibly well within our new Social Media bridge site... http://www.askelf.com

  2. Colin Kimball from Small Screen Network, January 2, 2009 at 10:18 a.m.

    You should check out we are doing with Video Clix over here at Small Screen Network. Click through rates are through the roof here as well.
    www.smallscreennetwork.com

  3. Gordon Vasquez from RealTVfilms.com, January 2, 2009 at 5:14 p.m.

    I am making a call now to Veeple =

    Gordon
    www.RealTVfilms.com

  4. Frank Brauer from Frank Brauer, January 4, 2009 at 7:05 p.m.

    Thanks for the insights and numbers. I expect a bright future for interactive video within the reach from shopping to video game like features.

  5. Scott Broomfield from Veeple, Inc., January 5, 2009 at 6:15 p.m.

    Hi Daisy and Happy New Year.

    Just a quick update that we hit 405 customers at year-end. What a year! Maybe your nice article had something to do with it. Thanks. Our click-through rates are still very very high.

    I hope that 2009 is a wonderful year for you.

    Best,
    Scott B.

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