History Taps Gotuit to Enable Video Mash-Ups for "Ice Road Truckers"

Gotuit Media--a company that offers metadata technologies which, among other things, allow end-users to instantly access the parts of a piece of video that interest them, and which can also be used by video publishers to allow end-users to make mash-ups out of their content, using metadata-defined virtual video clips--contacted [itvt] Wednesday to let us know that it has been selected by cable channel, History, to power "Ice Road Truckers Video Mash-Ups," a new site that lets viewers create mash-ups of the documentary-style reality series, "Ice Road Truckers," which History says is currently its most popular show. "Ice Road Truckers Video Mash-Ups delivers compelling and exciting content beyond the linear platform," History general manager, Nancy Dubuc, said in a prepared statement. "These types of unique, dynamic, digital opportunities with the likes of Gotuit perfectly illustrate the progressive initiatives we are pushing for at History, which reflect the growth of our brand. Fans of 'Ice Road Truckers' can now find the most dangerous, funny, interesting, and enjoyable moments from the entire archive and mix them together into their own personal highlight reel. This enhances the overall experience for our top-rated series and deepens the audience's engagement with the program and brand."

According to Gotuit, the new mash-up site, which was built using its Video Metadata Management System (VMMS), allows viewers to create their mash-ups using scenes from the show's first two seasons, as well as weekly updates from its current season. The company says that viewers can also edit those scenes down to smaller segments to include in their mash-ups, and add graphics and audio beds. When the mash-ups are complete, viewers can have them rated by other visitors to the site, and the authors of the top-rated mash-ups will be eligible to win official "Ice Road Trucker" prizes.

Gotuit says that the site leverages premium video metadata in order to present the "Ice Road Trucker" video in a range of categories (for example, Drivers, Rivalries and Accidents), making it easy for viewers to navigate to their favorite scenes. According to the company, Gotuit-powered video search allows viewers to easily search inside each episode and across the site's archive in order to find the specific segments they are looking for. Viewers can also access direct links and embed codes to share their favorite scenes and mash-ups, the company says. Gotuit bills its VMMS as being built on a cloud-based architecture that is capable of handling large spikes of simultaneous users. "History understands that in today's multiplatform environment, producers of hit linear programming must optimize the content to match the capabilities of the platform," Gotuit CEO, Mark Pascarella, said in a prepared statement. "In broadband, this means better navigation, video search, viewer engagement and viral sharing. Gotuit's patented technology delivers all these benefits through the power of premium, scene-level metadata."

Earlier this year, Gotuit announced that it was powering a mash-up service, called "Smash-Ups," for wrestling promoter WWE's "Wrestlemania 25th Anniversary" event (note: the WWE offered a $5,000 prize for the best mash-up); and also announced that it is powering a service that allows users of Major League Soccer's QuickKicks portal (which Gotuit is powering for the fourth consecutive year and which offers "deep video search capabilities" based on the company's metadata technology) to create and share their own highlight reel from video of MLS games.