Ok, from the title of this post I assume I need to tell a few of you to get you minds out of the gutter!
Now on to my point – First TheWB.com launched a pretty much fully baked in-content video search function, now YouTube is taking the first step towards interactive video, albeit a baby step. Artist and now popular video blogger Val from Valsartdiary.com launched YouTube’s first “interactive riddle” (apparently on June 15th??? how am I and the entire industry late on this?)
Merely a chose your own ending type of execution, this is nothing new to the world of rich media, but is new and long overdue to the world of mass video distribution (13 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute). The end of the 2 minute video (embedded below for your convenience) has an engaging element that simply poses a riddle and provides three different answers (optional endings), each leading the viewer to subsequent videos. She even offers a prize (a free coloring book, or to us digital marketers, a distributable asset, which can actually be downloaded for free from her website anyway, but that’s besides the point) to those who answered correctly. Besides the interactive video aspect of this, Val does a great job of generating interest in her as a personal brand and her content, all as a conduit to sell her art. Kudos indeed.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mZTOngK88I]
So why am I so excited? No it’s not because Val’s cute, although of course she is, (and that always helps the numbers!) it’s because the two vital components to the future of online video advertising has both materialized by major players this month. Interactive video on YouTube (ok, technically the tip of the iceberg that will eventually lead to true interactive video), and in-content contextual search functionality by Warner Brothers. The future is getting brighter quickly.
