veotag TM, THE FIRST SERVICE TO LET ONLINE VIDEO AUTHORS ADD CLICKABLE TEXT TO IMPROVE THE VIEWING EXPERIENCE, COMES ONLINE AT WWW.VEOTAG.COM
veotag Eradicates Online Video Frustration by Allowing Anyone to Enhance Nearly Any Online Video or Audio File so Audiences Know What's Inside it and can Click Directly to What they Want to See or Hear
Enables Viewers to Navigate a Video as if They're Skimming a Book
NEW YORK - June 26, 2006 - veotag, a provider of resources and tools that help solve problems associated with audio and video on the Web, has launched a service that allows online video "authors" to add clickable, explanatory text to almost any online video to improve audiences' viewing experiences.
The service, available for free to individuals at www.veotag.com, is designed to eradicate mounting frustration associated with video on the Web by (a) enabling video authors to describe what's inside a video, and where, and (b) allowing viewers to go to specific, desired parts of the video by simply clicking on related text. veotag also enhances audio files.
Mounting Frustration Among Web Video Viewers
"Many amateur and professional video authors have told us they fear that excitement over video and audio content on the Web will quickly give way to exhaustion and exasperation. Who wants to spend five minutes watching a cooking video just to see the 20 seconds when the chef shows how to make a roux?" said Scott Rhodes, President and CEO of veotag.
"The kinds of tags or guides that video hubs and search engines currently provide for videos are extremely rudimentary: classifications by popularity of download, brief title descriptions and so on. They provide no sense of what's really in the video or audio file and where pieces of content are within the file. And they certainly don't provide a 'clickable' text map - table of contents, as it were - of the content," he added.
The difficulties are mounting exponentially; YouTube alone, one of dozens of video sharing sites, is receiving 35,000 submissions a day and tens of millions of new visitors each month, according to veotag.
Taming the Web Video Frontier
veotag enables individuals to "annotate" with clickable text just about any video (or audio file), and it requires no special software or technical skills. After a video (or an audio file) is "veotagged", viewers can navigate the video as if they're skimming a book with a good table of contents. There is no charge for veotag's basic consumer service.
To "veotag" a video, the author goes to veotag's website (www.veotag.com) and enters the URL of the video (or audio file) he or she wants to annotate. veotag locates the video, and then begins playing it on the author's screen. Whenever the author wants to add a comment, he or she can stop the video and type desired text in an adjacent text box, and then resume playing the video.
When the author has finished adding all the text, he or she saves the text to a personal veotag account. veotag then gives the author a veotag.com URL to share with anyone - or everyone.
Viewers of the "veotagged" video can click on the text created by the author and go right to the corresponding scene (e.g., "Sally, 18 months, takes her first steps). Viewers reach the veotagged video by clicking on the veotag.com URL associated with it: They no longer need to know the URL of the original video.
In addition to making it easier to go directly to specific parts of a video, veotagging will also make it easier for everyone on the Web to find and use video and audio: veotag gives its authors the option of submitting their veotagged videos and audio files - clickable text and veotag URL -- to the major search engines. That means Web surfers searching for key words that happen to match veotag text will be directed to the veotag URL.
Anyone who creates, views or uses video on the web can benefit from veotagging.
Individuals will be able to add clickable text to - i.e., veotag - any video they make or any video they find on the Web. Basic veotagging is free, as is the ability to share a veotagged video.
Businesses will be able to increase the effectiveness and usability of any video - e.g., video of a training program or sales meeting -- that's used online. A professional or college football team, for example, can veotag game and practice videos so they become more effective tools for improving play.
Business Model
Veotag expects to generate revenue through three sources: advertiser-supported services; pay services; third-party fees and licensing.
About veotag, Inc.
veotag, Inc. is a provider of resources and tools that help solve problems associated with video and audio on the Web. veotag allows video authors and sound file producers, amateur and professional, to tell audiences what's inside their videos and audio files and to search within those files by clicking on descriptive text. The company is located in New York City. For more information, see www.veotag.com.