Coull.com - Don't Just Watch, Interact

London’s calling. The best and brightest crop of Web 2.0 entrepreneurs coming from the other side of the pond have been round up in this year’s Web Mission 2008. One of the twenty startups that made it is called Coull. Coull is an interactive video platform that allows users to interact with videos rather than simply sitting pretty and watching passively. Coull is completely web based so video owners can tag objects within video streams as well as customize user experiences. Users, for instance, would be able to click on a product within a video for more information about that product. Or they can get more engaged with characters in a video by clicking on characters for more info. Content owners will also have the opportunity to monetize through advertising.

“At coull, we believe that the online video experience should be interactive, rather than passive. So we developed a suite of web-based tools that allow videos to be activated. Our web-based platform enables video owners to identify and tag objects within video streams, and customise user experiences around the interaction with those objects.”

Coull takes online video to the next level. It allows viewers to engage and interact rather than simply watch. It allows content owners to get more traffic and unique visitors as well as monetize through advertising. It allows advertisers to micro-target their ads for more efficacy.

Will coull be able to compete with the other similar interactive video sites? Do users want ads to disrupt their online video viewing experience? Will this be an effective method of drawing more viewers?