In 2022, we reached an inflection level when the typical every day time spent watching on-line movies surpassed that of conventional tv consumption. There are an estimated 3.32B players worldwide, making up 41% of the worldwide inhabitants. Overplay merges these two worlds by combining movies with informal gaming, turning any on-line video into an informal online game with out requiring any coding information. Customers can add movies from their smartphones to the AI-powered platform, which transforms them into enjoyable, light-weight, shareable, interactive, playable video games in minutes. Overplay goals to unlock a wave of recent sport builders who’ve beforehand been unable to deliver their concepts to market resulting from technical limitations. The enterprise was featured on an episode of Shark Tank earlier this yr and secured a $500K funding from Mark Cuban. Overplay is obtainable on a freemium foundation for each Android and iOS, with in-app purchases and subscriptions can be found for extra options and superior customizations.
AlleyWatch caught up with Overplay Cofounder and CEO Caroline Strzalka to study extra concerning the enterprise, the corporate’s strategic plans, and far, far more…
Inform us concerning the services or products that Overplay gives.
Overplay is revolutionizing a $574 billion digital media panorama with the primary frictionless platform for user-generated video games. With Overplay, everybody can flip their movies into video games— in minutes, with no code. Overplay is unleashing limitless gameplay and sport creation.
How is it totally different?
Overplay’s app can be utilized to rapidly and simply make video games from something: humorous moments with your mates, cat memes, cooking tutorials, excessive sports activities POVs, and extra! Think about the NBA creating playable highlights reels, film studios releasing trailers which are video games, and automotive firms making commercials the place you just about check drive their vehicles. Overplay’s app and licensable know-how permits billions of creators, social media customers, and types to amplify viewers engagement by making their content material interactive.
What market does Overplay goal and the way large is it?
Overplay sits on the intersection of three huge markets: social media, video promoting, and informal gaming. We’re merging the whole lot that makes these markets profitable into one revolutionary type of digital media that might be consumed and created by BILLIONs of potential Overplayers worldwide.
Video games are an untapped artistic medium, and we’re unlocking a enormous alternative for creators. With Overplay, 200M+ skilled content material creators worldwide can leverage the movies they’re already creating to ask followers into their world, actually.
What’s the enterprise mannequin?
Creating, sharing, and enjoying video games on Overplay is free for customers. Our main income drivers will embody promoting and licensing. Overplay’s app will even characteristic playable adverts as native content material.
With a brand new injection of capital, we are able to speed up our API launch timeline and produce the extremely profitable playable sport advert format to 1000’s of manufacturers. By utilizing the Overplay API, our know-how might be inserted on different apps and web sites. We’ll monetize out API via a B2B SaaS licensing mannequin. The potential to monetize our know-how by supporting interactive playable gaming video adverts is super.
What impressed the beginning of Overplay?
We met whereas working at Sesame Avenue the place we created wonderful interactive content material for youths. We had been all the time pondering how their filmed content material may go additional and have an extended tail. Moreover, making video games is dear, time consuming and dangerous, since video games are a really hit-based enterprise. Someday, whereas watching a POV mountain biking sport, Our CEO Dan, thought that the video felt rather a lot like a sport and puzzled if he may flip it into one. Utilizing know-how from his movie and self-taught programming background, he got here up with a manner the place anybody may add a lightweight layer of gaming on high of streaming video. Dan wrapped me and, immediately the belief that each creator, each TV and film studio, each model, each advertiser may use this know-how to simply make video games dawned on us. Overplay may very well be the goose that laid the golden egg.
How are you making ready for a possible financial slowdown?
Creators (each skilled and newbie) will proceed to create and types will proceed to promote it doesn’t matter what the economic system, so we imagine that Overplay might be a bit bulletproof if the economic system had been to gradual. On high of this, public firms (and firms which are nearly public) – Meta, Alphabet, Snap, Canva and so forth. – will all the time be trying to increase their viewers numbers and consumer base, so Overplay may seem like an important acquisition to them.
What are the milestones that you just plan to realize inside six months?
Right here’s our roadmap:
What’s the one piece of startup recommendation that you just by no means obtained?
It’ll take 3 times as lengthy and price you 3 times as a lot as you’re estimating to get your product to beta.
When you may very well be put in contact with anybody within the New York neighborhood who would it not be and why?
Mark Lazarus, Chairman NBCUniversal Media Group. Mark oversees all streaming, distribution and monetization for your complete firm and Overplay’s know-how may assist NBCUniversal take their content material to the subsequent degree. Think about interactive highlights reels from Olympic Video games that had been simply performed…and even prior with athletes creating hype for the Olympic Video games by posting video games constructed from their very own coaching periods. In fact, there is also interactive film trailers, music movies, adverts. Overplay has the facility to remodel NBCUniversal’s content material and actually attraction to a youthful era who needs to work together with content material in a brand new gamified manner.
Why did you launch in New York?
First, my cofounder and I had been already positioned right here! Second, we’re a media platform and that is house to the highest media firms (particularly sports activities and leisure!) Third, there are actually just a few locations within the US the place you’ll be able to elevate enterprise and New York is one!
What’s your favourite restaurant within the metropolis?
Numero 28 on Carmine St. – greatest pizza in New York!
