Apparently Mike Arrington was at TechCrunch New York on Thursday night. Given that there were no introductions, no speeches or toasts, I had my doubts. I’m not one to stand on ceremony, but shouldn’t there at least have been a welcome to everyone?
I did get some gratification, however. After announcing my status as official member of the press, I got the wave from one of the door monitors and a chance to jump the registration line. That plus the glowing swizzle stick in my drink (which I admit I tried to use as a straw) really made my night. :)
As mentioned in Tech Crunch, Part 1, there were several companies at the event in the video search game. The ones I saw included CozmoTV (like Pandora for video), AOL’s SearchVideo and Gotuit. Gotuit was my favorite so you should keep reading to the end of this post.
CozmoTV lets you run keyword searches and then creates a channel around any video you choose. You rate the results and the engine refines your personalized channel. All channels are automatically public, and you can search for other people’s channels if you know their usernames. Currently the service searches YouTube and Google (um, aren’t they the same thing now?), and apparently the roadmap includes being able to transfer videos to a TiVo sometime in the future. CozmoTV is currently still in beta, but the company plans to launch in roughly the next couple of weeks.
SearchVideo was acquired by AOL and apparently is one of the ways in which AOL is quietly establishing a leadership in video. (AOL? Really?) SearchVideo has some nice ways to sort search results of video on the Web – by popularity, chronology, relevancy, etc. – but it’s not terribly flashy. AOL’s going with simple, and given where the company has been successful, maybe that’s not a bad idea.
Gotoit is focusing on a different kind of video search. Instead of just searching for particular videos, Gotuit has a product, Gotuit On Demand, that searches within videos. The company has a patent on technology that tags video segments and indexes them for access and use in playlists. As I understood it, the technology is part automated and part based on human input. Not sure how the two interplay behind the scenes, but the demo was cool. Gotuit has also found a way to integrate with your fantasy football teams. Looking for highlights for someone on your roster? You can bring up relevant plays online and even on your phone.
Gotuit has been around for a while, and unlike some of the other Web-only plays, Gotuit has already done deal with operators. There are regional deployments of Gotuit On Demand via TimeWarner and Comcast, as well as a deal with Sprint. This company is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Update: My snippy intro to this post was apparently incorrect. Valleywag reports — much later in the night — after Arrington stood on what might have been a bed and thanked the crowd and namechecked the fine companies making the evening possible and received his bobblehead doll.
So sorry I missed it.
Hey Dave,
Interesting coverage :)
Just a couple of points and Qs…
1. You said Google and YouTube are the same thing now… not sure if you were joking but they are still pretty distinct and differ mainly in that Google Video is not just short clips.
2. You said AOL bought SearchVideo. I’m not 100% sure but I think they built SearchVideo themselves after buying Truveo, and using Truveo’s technology to power SearchVideo.
3. I took a look at this part of Gotuit – http://non-us.gotuit.com/.
Not exactly sure what this is? Is is all high quality user submitted content – hows it fit in with their on demand service??
Thanks for your thoughts/questions. (BTW, this is Mari, not Dave.)
1. Good point on Google and YouTube. It just seemed strange to mention them and not reference the fact that they’re under the same umbrella now.
2. From the guy I spoke to at the event, I understood that AOL bought SearchVideo, but I may have misunderstood. I’ll check into it.
3. Gotuit’s consumer web application provides video content that appears to be licensed (i.e. not user-generated). I think they’re getting in front of consumers as a way to build the Gotuit brand and put pressure on operators to buy into the Gotuit technology faster. Personally, I’m much more interested in the on-demand offering.
Thanks for the answers Mari :)
Dude… had no idea you were there. Wish we could have connected.
Aaron: If it’s any consolation I wasn’t there. Mari covered the event. Since you’re just up the road in Baltimore, we have no excuse to not meet up at some point.