AOL Signs Blinkx for Video Search, Drops In-House Truveo
In a surprising turn, AOL has chosen Blinkx to power its video searches. That's surprising because AOL already owns Truveo, which it bought in 2006 and was using as the network's video search tool.
In return for providing AOL with video search, Blinkx will gain AOL's video library -- over 35 million hours of content -- for its search index. That means the library will be available to users searching from the Blinkx site.
AOL made the announcement today in a briefly worded blog post.
"The partnership expands the quantity and quality of AOL's video search results and also delivers integrated Safe Search tools that block adult oriented content from minors," wrote Francis Logo, in the post.
What the post didn't say is why AOL decided to part company with its own in-house video search. A source familiar with the decision said that AOL actually stopped using Truveo about six months ago.
AOL declined a request for an interview on the subject.
According to the December, 2011, comScore video search rankings, AOL is the seventh largest video site online, with roughly 40 million unique viewers that month. AOL Huffington Post last week announced the Huffington Post Streaming Network, which will debut this summer.
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