Eko (company)

Eko, formerly known as Interlude, is a media and technology company that enables production and web distribution of selectable, interactive multimedia videos.[1][2][3] It is widely known for the Sony interactive music video for Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone.[4][5] Eko was founded as Interlude in 2010,[1] and rebranded itself in December 2016.[6]

Technology

Eko software constructs audiovisual multimedia within which users have selection options for seamlessly streaming choices from a traversable video tree.[7][8][9] This process is explained and exemplified by actual use examples[4][10][11][12] including the interactive video made for Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone.[13] The availability of different video streams allows for a change in viewer perspective[4] or for narrative-branching.[4][10] For example, a decision tree based on 174 individual film segments results in users controlling an extremely large (98,304) number of permutations.[10] This interactivity increases user engagement.[10]

Within industry, companies in the advertising and marketing sectors have used Eko technology.[1][14][15][16] Treehouse, a free HTML5 web-app version of the suite, enables self-authored publishing directly to websites, blogs, Facebook, iOS, and Android.[3][15][17][18]

Structure

Eko was founded by Israeli rock musician Yoni Bloch.[1][19] Eko is based in New York and Tel Aviv, and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Marker LLC, Innovation Endeavors, Warner Music Group, Sony Pictures, Samsung, and Walmart.[20][19][21]

Awards
  • 2013: Yoni Bloch was awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Initiatives and Innovation for Interlude[7]
  • 2014: Best Small Digital Agency[22]
  • 2014: the Sony interactive music video for Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone won four Gold Lions;[23] several sources name it as one of the best music videos of 2013[24][25][26]

References
  1. Barnes B. Former Microsoft Executive Nancy Tellem to Join Interlude Start-Up. The New York Times. April 22, 2015.
  2. Interlude Makes Its Interactive Video Authoring Suite, Treehouse, Free for Everyone. Business Wire. August 5, 2014.
  3. Shamah D. That Dylan video: How Israeli tech built it. The Times of Israel. November 25, 2013.
  4. Ha A. Interlude’s Parallel Video Feature Gives You A Cool Way To Combine Clips, Channel Surfing Style. TechCrunch. July 21, 2014.
  5. Erlichman J. Nancy Tellem Takes Top Role at Interlude for Interactive Video. The Wrap. April 22, 2015.
  6. "Interlude Becomes Eko". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved Nov 21, 2019.
  7. Leichman AK. Top Israeli innovators receive Prime Minister’s Prize ISRAEL21c. November 12, 2012.
  8. "United States Patent: 8860882". USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database.
  9. "United States Patent: 9009619". USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database.
  10. "Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity". Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity. Retrieved Nov 21, 2019.
  11. Shamah D. Want to chat with Shimon Peres? The Times of Israel. Jun 20, 2012.
  12. Wallenstein A. Nancy Tellem Joins Interactive Video Firm Interlude. Variety. Apr 22, 2015.
  13. "Bob Dylan". video.bobdylan.com. Retrieved Nov 21, 2019.
  14. Sisario B. YouTube Challenger Lets Music Fans Call the Shots. The New York Times. December 21, 2014.
  15. Interlude Fuels Interactive Video Creation with Launch of Treehouse Authoring Suite. Business Wire
  16. Ben-David C. How an Israeli Rock Star Got Bob Dylan and Silicon Valley to Dig His Tech Startup. April 24, 2014. Bloomberg Business.
  17. Steele C. Digital Artists Reimagine the Music Video. PC Magazine. Apr 18, 2014.
  18. "Storytelling that moves people". Design Indaba. Retrieved Nov 21, 2019.
  19. "Interlude". Crunchbase.
  20. Littleton, Cynthia (2018-10-11). "Walmart Expands Entertainment Strategy With Eko Interactive Content Joint Venture". Variety. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  21. Goldenberg, Roy (November 1, 2014). "Interactive Video Co Interlude Raises $15m". Globes.
  22. "Mashies 2014". Mashable Mashies 2014.
  23. "Interlude's Interactive Video Platform Produces Four Cannes Gold Lion Awards". Business Wire. June 23, 2014.
  24. Locker, Melissa (December 4, 2013). "Top 10 Music Videos". TIME Magazine.
  25. Wilson, Jeremy (December 19, 2013). "The Best Music Marketing of 2013". The Huffington Post.
  26. "The Top Music Videos of 2013". Pitchfork Media. December 10, 2013.
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