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!

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

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.

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.

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.

But what if you can click the actors and get IMDB info, or click animals in a nature documentary, etc.

well as long as you voted for us :D

of course I did!