An interesting development in the social TV startup world: SnapCuts, a new social video editing platform that allows users to combine and share video clips with custom messages, has secured its first big partnership to bring TV content to their users. The company spoke to Lost Remote exclusively about their new partnership with A-1 Entertainment to gain access to classic TV content that includes Beverly Hillbillies, Lucy, Dick Van Dyke and more. Here are the details.
Different from SnappyTV and ClipSync, SnapCuts is all about mashing up different videos. It’s very simple to use was mostly flawless. You find clips you like, “snap them together,” add some text to it and send it off to the social web. Here’s my first SnapCut, a mash up of old school commercials and Beverly Hillbillies clips, which are already available. The commercial angle is especially compelling and one that might seem terrifying to brands. From a consumer perspective the ability mash up different commercials and TV might actually get folks to watch them. The same way we’re seeing networks celebrate fan art, we might see fan videos earn a similar place.
SnapCuts founder Bee Ottinger is an accomplished video editor who thought to launch the company after observing students she was teaching how to edit. Ottinger is responsible for having “invented modern video editing to music – quick cuts, jump cuts, visual effects, nonlinear montage – whose syntax is now the ubiquitous visual language used in commercials and music videos.” We spoke to SnapCuts CMO Allison Dollar about the announcement.
Lost Remote: How does SnapCuts work?
Allison Dollar: Consumers browse our library of clips, choose what they want to use and drag it to our timeline, the ‘snapper’. Then they add a text message and share the finished creation through Twitter, Facebook, email, URL to their social networks. While browsing they see information about the clip source and other related marketing information, such as an offer to buy the original work or related merchandise. For video rights holders and brand marketers this is a new unobtrusive method to create engagement, interaction and transactions around video.
LR: How will SnapCuts make TV more social?
Dollar: Any time consumers are creatively engaged in TV it becomes more social. But SnapCuts has broader applications than just TV content; it works with any kind of video. It can be white labeled for walled garden fan bases, and works for non-profits and corporate communications.
LR: How is it different than SnappyTV or ClipSync?
Dollar: SnapCuts is not tethered to live TV. It is a new platform altogether that combines mashups, e-cards, enhanced text messages and video sharing activities. The clips are professionally chosen and edited to fit together. They can have their own cultural resonance and significance. It is a new form of self-expression that can be timely or evergreen. It can be used as a direct marketing platform, and yes, analytics and reporting are part of the offering.