Metacafe Launches Video Editing Tools for User-Generated Mashups

Universal Studios' ad campaign for the upcoming "Heroes: Season 2" DVD, launched on Metacafe today, brings collaborative commercial mashups to the online video space. Viewers can use Kaltura's collaborative editing tools on the Metacafe Heroes 2 channel to remix videos and create their own "Heroes moments."

This campaign is the first of its kind in the online video space and could turn out to be a successful way to monetize short-form video.

"We sort of start from the premise that the commercial break is dead. In the short-form video entertainment environment it just doesn't make sense to put a 30-second pre-roll in front of a 90-second video," Metacafe Corporate Communications Director Michelle Cox says. Interactive and social campaigns that let users engage with content prove to be the most effective and are gaining momentum, according to Cox.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment provided footage from the second season of "Heroes" for the campaign.

This is new territory for Kaltura as well, and if advertisers continue to take advantage of their platform, it could be an important source of revenue for the company. It will also allow them to gain professional video footage for their store of sharable and re-mixable video content.

I interviewed Cox yesterday in the Beet.TV offices.

--Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer

Update: Read the company's press release here.