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Mixmonsta grabs the spotlight in Demand Media Challenge

Technology trends and news by Meliza Solan
April 1, 2008 | Comments (16)

Talk about a close race.

The Demand Media/Vator.tv Challenge - which drew 72 contestants who submitted their video pitches, is over, and the results are in. Mixmonsta, Nowlive, Zipidee, Clupedia, and WooMee grabbed the top five spots as measured by votes, ratings and comments.

The judges at Demand Media got to choose which of those five was their favorite, and they chose Mixmonsta, a creator of real-time, interactive, flash-based-widget media players that let people mash up and remix content on their mobile phones.

"I view Mixmonsta as the commercialization of what Beck did with Guero-cut it up and release different versions of the album with influence from his fans," said Caith Chapman, VP of M&A at Demand."This seems similar in terms of concept."

Chapman also said that Mixmonsta demonstrated traction as it has 30,000 registered users, 380,000 people using the product, five million video views, and labels that have taken some of the mixes and posted them to the Artists' websites directly. Josh Beil, one of the judges and a director of content at Level 3 Communications, had this to say, "Mixmonsta has very cool mashup applications, very easy to use and fun."

Mixmonsta received 93 votes from the Vator community, a rating of 4.5 stars averaged over 31 submissions, and 10 positive comments. As the winner, Mixmonsta CEO Voit Damevski wins the opportunity to fly down and meet with the Demand Media mergers and acquisitions team, including Caith Chapman and Shawn Colo, as well as Demand's CEO Richard Rosenblatt.

Damevski also wins six months free content delivery on VerSign Intelligent CDN including both streaming and VOD services, an x1400 server from Sun Microsystems, a social –media analysis, using Visible Technoogies' TruCast application, valued at $25,000.

Mixmonsta will have an opportunity to be featured on Vator's show on innovation, and have a featured profile on VentureBeat, Beet.tv, and Mashable.

In second place was NowLive, which had 119 votes. NowLive operates a technology platform for live interactive shows, making live broadcasts highly interactive social events for the audience and hosts. Zipidee, which drew 125 votes, landed the No. 3 spot. The San Francisco-based company offers sellers a patent-pending DRM solution that protects digital goods from copyright infringement.

Clupedia, an encyclopedia of clues from crowds, finished in fourth place, followed by Woomee, an online speed-dating site leverages in-browser video technology to enable users to meet new people in a fast, fun and free fashion.

Congratulations to the winners, and all the participants. And, thanks to the judges, Demand Media's Caith, Shawn and Richard, and VentureBeat's Matt Marshall, Mashable's Pete Cashmore, Visible Technologies' Blake Cahill, Mark Taylor from Level 3, and Bambi Francisco.

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16 comments

Submit yours

Thom Calandra, 181 days ago

Mix and mash widgets go mobile --Part II. Or III. Mixmonsta -- cross your fingers - if it gets some of the large cell phone operators to adopt its standards, it becomes Widget Wonder of The World! Fliptrack and others are giving it a go as well ... call this the Belmont Stakes. thom calandra at thomcalandra.com

Voit damevski, 221 days ago

DJ Breed our goal is to provide simple, fun, and easy to use applications for the mass market and then to build in more in-depth controls for those people that will get into it more. We stayed away from the concept of time-line editing as most people do not find editing fun...they consider it to be a tool and utility. If you use the Video-DJ you can have more control over both the video and audio. There are customization menus where you can change speed, chop effects, add audio and video samples, and scratches. This is only a start as we have many more customization features planned for coming releases. Cheers,

Voit damevski, 221 days ago

Shadab, good insight as to what we have coming out in a future update..photos and slide shows.

dj breed breed, 222 days ago

my personal honest opionon on mixmonsta is its a good idea but a bit too basic .at first i watched the demos and then played around with it for some hours.at first i was blown away by the concept of mixing youtube vids,especially one's that i've uploaded,but honestly the novelty wore off quite quick,the main problem for me is not enough of control over the vids and audio.i think this will appeal to alot of people regardless,and its good to see these sort of advance's in user friendly home media editing.

Shadab Frooqui, 222 days ago

This is awesome! Would love to see the ability to mash-up photos with my choice of music. I think if you keep your offerings clear and simple for the user, it is definitely valuable. Good luck!

Voit damevski, 222 days ago

Thanks Joe.... We are launching a few ad campaigns later this month with some major advertisers that should begin to validate our model.

Voit damevski, 222 days ago

Hey all, thanks for all the comments and feedback. Everything we do will continue to push the envelop to create easy to use and compelling applications for consumers, content owners, and advertisers. With the average Mixmonsta user now spending more time interacting with the player than watching a 30 minute sitcom its only a matter of time before advertisers take note.

Carl Brown, 223 days ago

Thanks for the interesting article, I was just thinking about a online video editing application today... this looks like a simple version of that ... Not for me but I could see how it would capture a lot of eyeballs...

Meliza Solan, 223 days ago

I agree with you, Joe. Media driven companies should definitely take note. By the way,Mixmonsta just put a new ad widget up on a Beta site today. The ad widget is designed to be branded to one advertiser and to have closed content for that advertiser, in the DEMO its Spiderman. Voit (CEO) says, "It will be a big step in creating a more compelling and engaging end user experience."

Joseph Puthur, 224 days ago

Mixmonsta demonstrates an original approach to tapping into the passion and creative energy of its users within a structured environment and represents a new take on how to make personalization of content possible. By adding mobile capabilities the traditional line between online and offline content becomes blurred opening yet another avenue to build loyalty and momentum among its users. It will be interesting to see how their innovation today translates into monetization tomorrow as they continue to grow their membership. With the ongoing massive change in media consumption by consumers it is companies like this that are paving the way towards a new consumer model regardless of whether they ultimately succeed as a business; media driven companies should take note.

MyLocator .com, 224 days ago

crowds and experts dont mix.

David Gildeh, 227 days ago

I think Mixmonster is something nice to play with - although is a bit basic for doing anything more than sliding between two videos at the moment. I can definately see potential in the idea but aside from the 'coolness' factor its seems more of a marketing channel for music companies rather than a useful tool on the net. If I'd had a chance to vote I'd be on the line between NowLive and Zipidee. As a former radio presenter at my university I really appreciate the service NowLive provides. Also Zipidee is another great idea, democratizing the publication process, and with the amount of content out there is definately a 'long tail' company. I can see a lot of business potential for both.

Meliza Solan, 228 days ago

Thanks for the feedback,Paul.It's not too late for you to vote for Clupedia in Vator's other contest which is the AlwaysOn Global 250 Stanford Summit Competition. Looks like they are in the lead.

Meliza Solan, 228 days ago

Glad you found Mixmonsta within the Vator community,James! If you're just learning how to mix a roots video then I agree with Mixmonsta being right up your alley. They make the work of a "video DJ" more conducive by using such simple tools. You can mashup, remix songs and even personalize your web based video. This company is hot! I am looking forward to seeing some of your own work right here on Vator. Would I be able to find it on your personal profile?

James Sleeman, 228 days ago

I didnt know about mixmonsta - but this is totally up my alley - I'm just learning how to mix a roots video - nice win, as soon as I figure this out im posting my work on my profile.