HowTo.tv in Interactive Video Partnership with Ooyala

HowTo.tv, a London-based digital marketing agency specializing in interactive video, said Tuesday that it is partnering with online video platform provider, Ooyala, to offer its LinkTo.tv interactive video technology to the latter's customers (note: another London-based company, Quick.tv, made a similar announcement last week--see the article published on itvt.com, July 11th). According to the company, LinkTo.tv is an online tool that allows users to add interactive hotspots to their videos: it enables ecommerce companies to highlight objects throughout a video, the company says, and link the highlighted objects to a shopping cart, thus enabling a "click and buy" experience. The tool also allows video publishers to insert opt-in forms for viewers interested in learning more about an item.

HowTo.tv bills LinkTo.tv as encouraging viewers to engage more directly with videos, while enabling publishers to generate revenue and collect data on viewer interactions. According to the company, LinkTo.tv, which is available as a self-managed tool at http://www.linkto.tv, has been used by such companies as Harrods, Jaeger, npower, the Westfield Shopping Centre and Dell to add interactivity to their online videos."Ooyala serves over 500 customers, including 250 global media and enterprise customers," HowTo.tv co-founder, Russell Goldsmith, said in a prepared statement. "We think this is an exciting opportunity for these brands to take their existing video assets and create more engaging and actionable activities through our LinkTo technology." Added Alex Holub, senior product manager at Ooyala: "LinkTo.tv provides a great service, one we think will increase viewer engagement and grow revenue for our publishers. We're pleased to be working with HowTo.tv to extend our video platform offering and provide our customers with innovative add-ons."

A demo video of LinkTo.tv is available above.