#flixmaster

A few years ago, we embarked on a mission to transform how online video was created and delivered.  I was running a video production company and my co-founder was a video game designer. We had a realization – the standard online video of the day was completely missing the point. After all, what is the internet great at? Interactivity, user-navigation, and personal relevance. Were our videos doing anything to harness that? Absolutely not.

So we set out to create an interactive series that empowered the viewer with choice. We wanted an online video experience that was engaging, actionable, and fun, and while we could write the script and coordinate the gaming aspect in no time, there was no easy way to build or publish this experience online, and there was certainly no chance of scaling it to produce multiple episodes over time.  

Remarkably, video technology had not kept up with the rest of the web and our new direction became clear – rather than build one project that inspired some, we needed to build a platform to inspire millions, a platform to empower people around the world to create these kinds of rich, immersive online video experiences at scale without the pain, timeline, or expense of custom one-off projects. Thus we created FlixMaster and it quickly became the essential online video platform for indie producers and enterprise creatives who want audiences not only to watch but also to interact.  

And the producers produced - thousands of hours of footage woven together into interactive projects across the web. Shop-able videos, product demos, entertainment, customer support videos, educational content, you name it. And as top-tier brands and enterprises took our platform and pushed the boundaries of what’s possible, our vision and our mission expanded.

NBC Universal launched webisodes that leveraged our player API to assign points to fans based on their choices in the Covert Affairs online prequel series Sights Unseen. Cinemax launched an unprecedented 24 interactive videos in one microsite that told the backstory of their new original series Banshee. And most recently Philips, in conjunction with Ogilvy, and Maybelline New York, in conjunction with ICED Media, have launched first-of-their-kind clickable video marketing campaigns that are viewable through the browser of most mobile devices without the need to download any app (including iPhone!).  Partnering with the talented people behind these initiatives has been incredible, so we’ve doubled-down and made our platform more robust, more powerful and even more remarkable.

And we’ve chosen to celebrate that expansion with a new look and name that truly represent our vision and the captivating way our platform is fundamentally changing the online media experience.

Company Aims to Provide More Creative, Engaging, and Truly Interactive Video

Boulder, Colo., July 31, 2013 – FlixMaster today announced the company is rebranding as Rapt Media, demonstrating its commitment to becoming the singular, scalable, in-house creative solution for business and agencies wanting to achieve measurable  business objectives using online video.

Enterprise and branded video has enjoyed huge popularity as a marketing medium, often representing the first place people click on any web property, but statistics show that nearly half of online video viewers click away after 30 seconds.

The new Rapt Media sees an opportunity to address the rapidly growing need for more creative uses of video by corporations and media properties alike, providing a technology platform and product suite that improves content quality and increases viewer engagement.

Most technology developed for video has been targeted at storage and distribution issues, making the first chapter of Enterprise Online Video about delivering the video and managing the massive amount of data it creates. Sadly, the actual content has been largely ignored, with innovation taking a backseat to simple replications of offline video experiences.

“Since 2011, we have been the essential online video platform for indie producers and enterprise creative professionals who want audiences not only to watch online videos, but also to interact,” said Erika Trautman, co-founder and CEO of Rapt Media, a Boulder, CO-based graduate of the prestigious TechStars program. “Now, our media engine is poised to drive the world’s best interactive multimedia projects and fundamentally change the online video experience.”

“Rapt Media and our new brand position reflects that vision,” CEO Trautman said.

Rapt Media provides a scalable and measurable one stop solution for creating enterprise videos that use the click-through power of the web, resulting in experiences that engage, produce revenue, and address the real-life business needs of retailers, technology vendors, entertainment companies and other organizations, working with their existing distribution strategies to increase ROI.

The company recently announced their solution for the first mobile interactive videos for the iPhone and Android that don’t require an app for viewing, as well as partnerships with globally renowned brands Maybelline New York and Philips, which are are using the interactive technology in major marketing campaigns.

For global technology brand Philips, the company powered the first mobile interactive component for their upcoming Click & Style campaign, the introduction of an all-in-one Male Grooming product for young men. The effort is led by interactive agency Ogilvy & Mather Advertising (Duesseldorf). Willem Schungel, digital campaign manager of Philips Global said, “We needed to find a technology solution and experienced support team to help us execute this ambitious, interactive mobile campaign, and Rapt Media presented the only solution in the marketplace that was powerful and flexible enough to meet our mobile delivery needs.  Their easy-to-use platform allowed our creatives to take control of the interactive building process, so that we can achieve greater mobile engagement.”

Additional enterprises using Rapt Media’s technology include HBO, Addison, Sony, One King's Lane and NBC Universal, among others.

Rapt Media’s new website will launch on Aug. 14, 2013, but  additional details can be found right now at www.raptmedia.com.

About Rapt Media

Rapt Media is the singular, scalable, in-house creative platform driving the evolution of interactive enterprise video for companies wanting to achieve measurable  business objectives using online video. Rapt Media makes online video an interactive experience, allowing creative professionals to produce content at scale that is highly engaging, converts interaction into action and provides significant ROI.  

Based in Boulder, CO and a graduate of the highly acclaimed TechStars program, Rapt Media’s cloud-based technology enhances enterprise videos with the click-through power of the web and creates viewer-engaging and revenue-producing assets for retailers, technology vendors, media companies and other organizations.

VIDEO: From the 2013 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Steve Waskul talks with FlixMaster Co-Founder and CEO Erika Trautman about the future of online video.

flixmaster.com

https://secure.flixmaster.com

creating your very own interactive video.

Free interactive video editing for everyone!

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We thought it would be fun to offer an interactive holiday card to our friends, family and users.  Later today we'll also be breaking down how easily we made this project, offering a creation template, and providing a link for downloadable assets so you can make your very own!  So be sure to join the FlixMaster Facebook community and keep your ear open for updates on Twitter!  

We're proud to announce that FlixMaster has partnered with Sony Creative Software to offer an exclusive, limited-time discount to Sony Creative Software users interested in taking their online videos to the next level.  As the easiest and most powerful platform to create e-commerce, entertainment, and e-learning projects, FlixMaster adds a world of opportunity to Sony Creative Software users, and at the amazing price of $19.95/month there is no longer any reason not to take advantage.  It's also FREE to build and publish with up to 250 "video plays" so anyone and everyone can take a spin.  Check out the FlixMaster partner page on Sony Creative Software's site here.

The partnership was announced today and Sony Creative Software plans to roll out an email notification to its millions of users starting tomorrow.  They'll also be hosting a webinar on Thursday November 15th to go over the basics of building a project using FlixMaster so be sure to sign up!  “If you believe, as we do, that online video is going to be interactive in the coming years, then FlixMaster is the platform that is going to get you in the game, ahead of the curve," said Dave Chaimson, vice president of Global Marketing for Sony Creative Software. “The partnership between Sony Creative Software and FlixMaster presents our users with the most state-of-the-art means to exercise their creativity in ways never before possible. It will spark project creation that will amaze, and meet a broad diversity of consumer needs.” 

FlixMaster CEO Erika Trautman is also thrilled with the opportunity.  “FlixMaster frees video producers from the constraints of a linear storyline, and we think Sony Creative Software users will be astonished by what they can do with the platform. We’re honored that Sony Creative Software recognized the ingenuity that FlixMaster put into its platform to drive the next generation of online video, and excited that for the first time, it’s being made available to the a very broad creative market via this exclusive partnership.”

In addition to the amazing price point, FlixMaster has removed "video play" limits for these exclusive users - opening up their projects to be viewed and shared by millions!

FlixMaster and Sony Creative Software Partner to Offer Sony Creative Software Users Access to FlixMaster’s Game-Changing Interactive Video Platform

Easiest and Most Powerful Platform to Create E-commerce, Entertainment and E-learning Projects Available for a Limited-time, Sony Creative Software-only Promotion

BOULDER, CO–November 14, 2012–FlixMaster (www.flixmaster.com), the first user-driven online video platform that radically changes the video experience for producers and viewers alike, and Sony Creative Software (www.sonycreativesoftware.com), a leading global provider of professional editing and authoring applications, announced today that the two companies have partnered to offer Sony Creative Software users exclusive access to FlixMaster’s cloud-based interactive video creation and editing platform for only $19.95/month. For a limited time, Sony Creative Software users can experience the enterprise level power of FlixMaster’s interactive editing platform at a fraction of the cost.

Sony will offer this special Sony Creative Software group-only subscription rate to its millions of users via its monthly user newsletter, scheduled to be emailed November 15,  giving Sony Creative Software users special access to FlixMaster’s enterprise-level, interactive editing platform, which offers the best cloud-based interactive building tools for scalable e-commerce, entertainment, corporate, and e-learning projects. The special rate includes unlimited project building, unlimited views (sharing with others) and 10GB of storage, allowing anyone in the Sony Creative Software group to try for themselves FlixMaster’s unique visual branching video creation tools that make video non-linear, participatory and social. In addition, Sony will promote FlixMaster in a Webinar on Thursday, November 15, at 9:00 a.m. PT.

“If you believe, as we do, that online video is going to be interactive in the coming years, then FlixMaster is the platform that is going to get you in the game, ahead of the curve," said Dave Chaimson, vice president of Global Marketing for Sony Creative Software. “The partnership between Sony Creative Software and FlixMaster presents our users with the most state-of-the-art means to exercise their creativity in ways never before possible. It will spark project creation that will amaze, and meet a broad diversity of consumer needs.”

FlixMaster is the only interactive editing platform that combines the following features to offer an end-to-end video creation experience:

·       Cloud-based

·       Simple, visual  branching video creation

·       Free to build

·       Instant project updates via drag-and-drop map editor

·       Player API

·       Social Sharing

·       Powerful Analytics

·       Built in Native HTML5

 “FlixMaster frees video producers from the constraints of a linear storyline, and we think Sony Creative Software users will be astonished by what they can do with the platform," said Erika Trautman, CEO and co-founder of FlixMaster. “We’re honored that Sony Creative Software recognized the ingenuity that FlixMaster put into its platform to drive the next generation of online video, and excited that, for the first time, it’s being made available to the a very broad creative market via this exclusive partnership.”

The FlixMaster platform was adopted earlier this year by NBCUniversal/USA Network for a first-ever interactive online video prequel created for the network’s hit TV series “Covert Affairs.” In October, One Kings Lane, an online home design flash sale site, began using interactive video created with FlixMaster to help consumers learn more about its products in an experiential way and to appeal to a new user base.

FlixMaster’s next-generation capabilities enable producers to create non-linear video with multiple navigation paths, and its player API extends the reach of the video outside of the player to interact with the actual website – creating a new paradigm where the video player can be the main navigation point for an entire website. Its drag-and-drop interface allows content creators to link videos to other videos, add links to outside URLs, and leverage its powerful player API to easily create professional-grade, highly interactive projects that drive engagement and e-commerce ROI. FlixMaster videos can quadruple viewing engagement and increase clickthrough rates by up to 800%, and unlike other solutions that require producers to relinquish creative control by sending their videos to “experts” who complete them according to predefined specifications, FlixMaster allows producers to retain complete control from start to finish. FlixMaster handles all of the transcoding and optimization and can either host the published videos or integrate with the company’s CDN of choice. These dynamic, interactive projects can then be embedded on any website or easily shared through social networks. FlixMaster is built in HTML5 to integrate seamlessly with iPads and other tablets.

About FlixMaster

FlixMaster (www.flixmaster.com) is a pioneering interactive video platform that offers a radically new video creation and viewing experience. With FlixMaster, anyone – from individuals to businesses – can create and share next-generation videos that inspire, engage and interact with viewers. Unlike complex and costly video creation tools, FlixMaster provides a simple drag-and-drop interface that allows the producer to easily create videos that are non-linear, participatory and social. FlixMaster-made videos get significantly higher clickthroughs, engagement and ROI than their standard online counterparts. Finally, video is freed to act as an interactive educational tool, a powerful e-commerce engine, or as the ultimate entertainment vehicle where viewers can create their own adventures and choose their own story outcomes. Headquartered in Boulder, CO, FlixMaster was co-founded by an Emmy Award-nominated producer and a video game designer, and is a TechStars 2011 company.

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Press Contact:

Krista Van Lewen

0: 303-963-5530

M: 415-608-0263

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Recently I've been working on several projects with a new tech start-up called FlixMaster. FlixMaster's goal is to bring online video into the modern age by creating tools for users to make their videos seamlessly interactive for the audience. Think of how DVD's work, with interactive menus and being able to skip to different chapters and whatnot, and apply that model to the online world. That's more or less how FlixMaster works. The above link is an example of one of the uses of FlixMaster's technology, where owners of the Sphero robot can navigate through online instructional videos of Sphero's basics.