This article is part of a series covering the most exciting start-ups featured at the most recent TechBUZZ conference, held at AOL Fishbowl Labs. To read the rest of the articles in the series, click here.
If you're a Game of Thrones fan, then your most vivid memory of the show might be the infamous Red Wedding scene. Or perhaps it was when Tyrion slapped his no-good nephew Joffrey across the face. Whatever the case, you probably wanted to share and discuss that scene with fellow GoT enthusiasts, which you might have done by the water cooler or on social media.
But imagine if you could actually share brief, specific clips from the show with your friends -- and HBO's parent company, Time Warner, had no problem with it. This sort of activity is normally considered piracy, but now a start-up company is working closely with major content-providers to make it both possible and totally legal.
Say hello to Bubbl.
A potential game-changer
Bubbl is software that integrates with a streaming video player and allows you to clip short sections of content that you want to share. Simply touch the icon once at the start and once at the end, and Bubbl will clip the video, create a file and URL for video clip you want to share, and leave you free to share it on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter -- wherever. No more will you have to sit through a 3-minute clip just to see the seven seconds your friend wanted to share. Bubbl lets us get straight to the point and watch only what we want, which may be very different from what someone else wants to share. That's the beauty of putting the tools in the hands of the individual: It's highly personal and relevant.
For a rundown of this potentially revolutionary tool, watch CEO Mauhan Zonoozy's 4-minute pitch at the recent TechBUZZ conference:
Video footage courtesy of Swell.tv.
Changing minds
Content providers are coming around to this idea, realizing that while they won't control the exact moments of content being shared, they can still control and monetize the experience. Bubbl's software allows the content provider to include links to view the entire video, or perhaps a link to purchase the song, movie, or show. I can imagine Twitch streamers using Bubbl to get people subscribe to their channels. Any call to action can be embedded into these clips by the content owner, and this is what's so innovative about Bubbl: It gets around the issues of piracy and securing intellectual property and allows content providers to deliver their content to an even wider audience -- for free.
When Twitter launched Vine, it brought 6-second looping video into the mainstream. People use Vine every day to record moments of their favorite shows or sporting events and broadcast them throughout their personal networks. But the quality of these second-hand videos is typically substandard and not very publisher-friendly. Bubbl is hoping to capitalize on this trend toward sharing shorter clips of professionally produced content by selling its software tools to these publishers and allowing them to build the functionality right into the video player. One key to Bubbl's success will be convincing as many content publishers as possible to build the Bubbl technology into their video players.
If you'd like to follow Bubbl's progress, you can visit its website and follow its Twitter account.
