We've got one more month to go before the judges of the Demand Media/Vator Challenge select a winning vertical social network or community 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. Since launching the competition in mid-November, 61 companies have participated!
Here's a leaderboard update of the top 25 companies, based on the number of votes.
In first place is Zipidee, with 63 votes, and an average of 4.5 stars. Zipidee is an online marketplace for digital media: video, music, eBooks, ringtones, wallpaper, and more. The San Francisco-based company offers sellers a patent-pending DRM solution that protects digital goods from copyright infringement. (Watch Zipidee's Henry Wong in a recent interview with Bambi.)
In second place is Nowlive, with 58 votes. The media network operates a technology platform for live interactive shows, making live broadcasts highly interactive social events for
the audience and hosts. In third place is Clupedia, an encyclopedia of clues from crowds. Clupedia
is a platform that allows you to express your opinion either
at any point of interest anywhere on the Internet using its toolbar or from a centralized location using its Web site. Woome ranks No. 4. The online speed dating site leverages in-browser video technology to enable users to meet new people
in a fast, fun and free fashion. As CEO and founder Stephen Stokols describes it in his company profile, a person can create a topic, such as "Vator.tv lovers in Los Angeles," invite five people and have them meet in a five-minute session.
Rounding out the top five is Mixmonsta, a creator of real-time, interactive, flash-based-widget
media players that let people mash up and remix content on their mobile phones. Standing in sixth place is FlickOptions, is an online trading game where traders buy and write options on movie premiums. Afrigator ranks No. 7. The South African social network appears to be an aggregator of blogs, Web sites across Africa. Think Digg or Fark. It's pretty cool. Right behind Afrigator is DigitalSmiths, an enabler of online video advertising and ad optimization through automated visual analysis and audio recognition. DadLabs ranks No. 9. DadLabs is an online TV network, which produces four 3-8 minute shows a week that are all on the subject of fatherhood. MyPunchBowl stands at No. 10. MyPunchBowl is an event-planning site, much like eVite or Socializr.
Congratulations to the top 10 Vator.tv participants to date! Keep in mind that this process is very fluid and a few votes can change the rankings fast! So, if you want a chance to meet with Demand Media, one of the fastest-growing, acquisitive and hottest new media companies, get your constituents to make your presence known in front of the judges. The top five will be selected by the judges, who will be looking closely at the number of votes, the number of views, the highest ratings and most positive comments.
We told you that we'd showcase the top 25 by mid-February. So here's the remaining participants that at this point rank between No. 11 and No. 25.
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