Clean and i got the message in 3 seconds. I would guess your viewers will result in lower conversion rates for the advertisers when viewed from your page. Not sure how to handle that if advertisers notice.
Also, since your whole pitch is about the $$$ your leaderboard should be tied to $ somehow instead of just # of watches. That's more for your own dashboard. (ie highlight the wins, not the amount of pain other users have been put through)
These business models usually face a problem of one ad view not being enough to incentivize someone to watch it. I like the penny auction spin you put on that. Clever.
That said, is your ad network aware of this and okay with it?
How do you verify these are real viewers? There are a lot of "attack" vectors here... automated servers + proxies, or even just somebody with a clickbot on their home computer cycling through videos and buying an item once its price goes below what they can sell it for elsewhere?
Also, why would your users not just buy giftcards at any number of the discount gift sites, many of which offer higher discounts than you, without the need to watch a video?
I'm very curious about the economics here, because I find it hard to imagine you could win all these "startup of the month" type accolades without thinking this through.
I like that the competitive edge doesn't feel very pressuring. Cool idea, I'll keep an eye on this site.
Also just a quick note - the copy on the About Us section could use some slight sentence structure and organization checking. :) The end in particular reads a little strangely:
> We even feature charity auctions, which apply the revenue users generate from watching video ads towards great causes around the world. Thanks for your interest in VidFall. Founded in September 2013, VidFall is a portfolio company of Wasabi Ventures, LLC.
I honestly don't see the benefit of this. If I understand it correctly, a bunch of people watch ads, causing the price to go down. But only one person gets the discounted price, and everyone else who sat there watching ads gets nothing? In other words, the majority of people using the site get no benefit.
Wow, I'm quite impressed. I bought the $100 restaurant gift card (for $30). They sent it to me tonight, but it was only for $50. I emailed them, and they responded within 8 minutes with the remaining $50.
Turns out I couldn't buy because my Bank of America card currently has a UK address attached to it. Let people use international billing addresses for digital goods like Amazon gift cards?
(Also, better aesthetics (like removing the stripe texture and the greyscale menu) would make this site way more trust-worthy in my eyes. Currently it looks too much like a rough tech demo quickly thrown together on Wordpress)
Hey the watchers variable is dependent upon the number of people actually watching videos. We were making a TON of calls to our ad networks at the peak of the HN craze, but not all the videos were coming through. That is why the viewer variable was all screwy. Lots of work ahead, appreciate the constructive criticism!