Cool Iris - A Leap Forward in Web-TV Convergence

The convergence of web and TV is a topic frequently discussed, with both devices making significant steps in the other's direction. Cooliris is a fascinating new service that takes web experience to another astral plane, transforming a menu of video content into a 3-D theater of TVs that are fun to access and when click provides a remarkable full screen viewing experience.I am not doing justice to the service, so here are some screens from their slide show demo:









Heck, so seeing is believing, so I give you two UGC videos of the Cooliris service and its broad feature set:





As with most such services, there are even ways to customize the appearance of your video wall, changing colors, angles, and the like.

In order to use the Cooliris service, you need to be visiting a Cooliris enabled site. But that's fast becoming a pretty big list from major soc nets to leading video sites including YouTube and Hulu.

Advertisers can get deeply in the mix. They offer three forms of sponsorship:

COLUMN ADVERTISING
Cooliris inserts advertising in columns (three ads per column) next to other media content in the 3D Wall. These ads are format agnostic and can have a zoomed in state that is larger than the thumbnail view. When a user selects content, a 300x250 px image or video ad will appear. A double click on the selected item will expand to a full-screen presentation of the ad.

INLINE ADVERTISING
Cooliris will insert advertising next to other media content in the 3D wall. These ads are format agnostic and can have a zoomed in state that is larger than the thumbnail view. When a user selects content, a 300x250 px image or video ad will appear. A double click on the selected item will expand to a full-screen presentation of the ad.

SPONSORSHIP OF DISCOVER CHANNEL
Cooliris will create a new, time-limited, sponsored channel in Discover. Upon launch of Discover, the user will see a branded wall with a customizable background, logo, and content provided by the advertiser. Content is fully customizable and can link to an external website, including an e-commerce destination.

It appears to be all user activated, which must do wonders for the appeal of the platform. It'd be interesting to see some data on how consumers interact with this stuff. For advertisers the service also offers reporting that gives you the key viewership measures.

It's cool, especially if you are a videophile. And the ad options could provide a whole new set of contact points for markeitng messages to reach consumers.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to write.