Commentary

Ooyala's Mosaic Player Aims at Getting Viewers, Then (Happily) Drowning Them with Cross-Platform Content

 Ooyala’s new mosaic player, the broad strokes of which I wrote about in a post earlier today, allows publishers to stream five live or on-demand video feeds across multiple devices.

Writing that is the easy part. Seeing it and having it explained is a visual slap in the face. It is hard to imagine a tool that can be this immersive. If you want to be absolutely drenched in sports content, or any other kind, all at once, wait ‘til you see it.  

Jonathan Wilner, vice president of product, and Ooyala’s Matt Pasienski gave me a visual run through earlier this week.

“Our focus has been from day one to have product that is really data driven experience—really measuring things,” Wilner says, explaining how the content Ooyala is delivering can also be a godsend to advertisers. (In case that in doubt.)  “Our goal is to attract, retain and monetize consumers who want to watch an increasing amount of premium content when and wherever they want to watch it.”

This mosaic can not only show you multiple games in real time, it can allow you to focus on one player in one game, another player in another game and so on. It can alert you to scoring events on games you’re not currently watching. In short, if all of this is kind of like Wilner explained it and the slide show presented it, it is the equivalent of a lifetime supply of Lay’s for a sports couch potato.

Viewer-controlled. Multi-screen. Easy switching. That’s what consumers want to know about. Or for advertisers, targeted video advertising insertions that don’t interrupt live events.

It’s sports-over-IP, and since that’s the buzz—all those rumors about the NFL contracting with Netflix, for example—devices like Ooyala’s seem to be a product worth watching.

In a way, you already are. Ooyala’s already deep into the sports business, with deals with ESPN, the Pac-12 TV network and Spanish and Australian sports channels, and with non-sport entitied like Miramax and what is kind of the Nigerian version of Netflix. Wilner claims Ooyala’s has a role in about half of the device-delivered sports content in the U.S. right now.      

The mosaic player incorporates Ooyala's analytics engine, which allows publishers to track engagement metrics for each video stream, and then feature the content that is performing best. In addition, leveraging Ooyala's analytics and machine-learning technology the publisher can create personalized channels. Publishers can reserve parts of the space for partnership messages or pre-set videos.

The mosaic demo coincides with Ooyala’s Q2 Global Video Index that among other things shows the incredible growth of video consumption via mobile and tablet world continues unabated.

pj@mediapost.com

 

Are you a Video Insider? MediaPost is alwayslooking for commentary and insight on industry issues and trends, or provide tips on how to use video marketing more effectively. Please send credentials, writing samples, and one or two column ideas to pfine@mediapost.com.  

Next story loading loading..