TV Guide Online has launched an online video widget allowing any site to piggyback on TV Guide’s existing online video guide and search function.

I’m far from sold on the utility of another video search tool for well-known content, that Google pane in my Firefox browser should do the same job, but I guess better to build a branded widget that a few people might use than not build a widget at all?

Users can customize the widget to show top picks by free or paid content, clips or full length shows as well as search TV Guide’s listings. Annoyingly, when a show or video clip is clicked on it opens two windows, one to TVGuide.com and the other to the appropriate video site.

Saul Hansell of the New York Times is reporting that Google has begun testing video ads on their search pages.

“The big insight of Google wasn’t text ads; it was that the ads should be conducive to the format. We were doing text-based search that was all textual. Visual ads don’t work in that format,” Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products and user experience told Saul in their interview.

“We don’t want all sorts of video and banner ads all over the site all the time,” Ms. Mayer said. “People who advertise a movie want to show a trailer. Why shouldn’t they have the same format we use for search results and have a little plus box that says watch the trailer?”

Google will be slowly introducing video ads with a small “plus sign” icon next to search results that contain video, according to Hansell’s Bits Blog. Google has been testing multiple ways to leverage video, including YouTube’s overlay graphical ads. Video units were introduced to AdSense in October. Rest assured, this won’t be the last video development for AdSense.

The good folks at Video Search News, who are hosting the 1st Annual Video Search Summit, have been kind enough to offer OVW readers $100 off the registration fee.

When you register, use promo code: onlinevideowatch (all one word) to receive your discount.

The event is April 8-9th in San Francisco. Book now! And use that promo code!!!

Facial recognition video search startup Viewdle today launched two products designed to help users find additional content on people they’re looking for.

The first, a name widget that allows online publishers to link to additional video content on a person from the Viewdle-indexed Reuters video library, say, for the sake of traffic
Britney Spears

The other, a flash based election coverage tracker that counts number of media appearances and minutes of airtime candidate has had over the past day, week, month and year. In the future this type of technology should make it a lot easier for FEC monitors to fine media organizations not providing equal time to candidates.

Local is finally beginning to make waves. Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Levy Cohen, CEO of startup Collarity, the company powering community-based search for FOX local TV sites.

Collarity’s search technology works by tapping into the inherent behavioral similarities among users. Collarity takes information from all users of a site to segment the audience into very specific micro-communities. Search then continuously improves and adjusts individual results based on the changing interests of a website’s numerous existing communities.

A search for “New England” on MyFoxNewYork.com for example shows that New Yorkers are concerned with New England weather and of course the Giants. LA residents are more interested in Britney and they tend to be Pats fans. As users spend more time on a site search results adapt to their history.

By dividing users into interest groups based on what they have viewed and where they have spent time on a website, Collarity is able to target users with relavent advertising, and increase page views and CPM rates. Cohen said they have seen conversion rates on partner sites rise by 40%-100%.

As the content universe expands, navigation will continue to grow in importance. The inherent social networks that underlie every website are an incredibly powerful tool for improving the filter through which information is passed. By taking advantage of this Collarity offers a win-win for both users and content producers.

Crazy Monday. Sorry for the lack of posting. But its all for good reason.

One thing keeping me busy is that I was asked to be the program chair for the video track of the OMMA Global Conference, held March 17-18, in Los Angeles.

So, with that, I ask you, what do you want to see and hear? There’s no shortage of conferences out there to attend, and plenty of topics have been beaten to death. Who do you want to hear from? What questions do you want answered? What information have you been seeking that you just can’t seem to find? Email me and let me know!!!

Nobel laureates may not be as culturally popular as Otters Holding Hands, but they do have their place alongside them on YouTube, way down the long tail.

Oliver Smithies - tales of 60 years in research

OpenCulture highlights 10 of the most intellectually stimulating channels on YouTube, which no one is watching. They also point out how useless YouTube’s education section is: while Google has a great text search algorithm, their video filter still can’t figure out that “school girl” videos aren’t necessarily educational.

Social search engine Mahalo is prepped to launch a daily video blog podcast, The Mahalo Daily (ok, not a very original title, but we’re more focused on the content). Hosted by Veronica Belmont, the show’s content will cover every topic under the sun, just like Mahalo.

Until the show’s official launch on Monday, November 5th, this trailer was released to pique some interest.

Does anyone use twitter more than Mahalo founder, Jason Calacanis? By the way, Jason, you should have hit up the Cupping Room for breakfast.

I guess it would be asking too much for TV Guide to index more than what is produced by linear networks. The online video guide launched earlier this month is useful - It deep links directly to individual episodes in network players from a central location, but it lacks independently produced content.

Above: TV Guide’s Online Video Guide - Cold Case anyone?

In the fight for eyeballs, independent producers have an enormous battle to wage against traditional media. Content discovery is a big mess right now. Search is not necessarily the best way for users to find entertainment and it’s even worse for producers seeking to build an audience.

We’re in a period of novelty for online content due to the fragmentation of mainstream media content online. Once the major players figure things out and become entrenched it will become more difficult for existing independent producers who have been successful online to maintain their foothold, small as it already is.

It may be time for top independent producers to form a coalition to promote original online programming and to find a better way to push their content to a larger audience

Wednesday I will be at the IP Media Expo, co-located with Satcon and the HD Media Expo. It should be interesting to see some of the broadcast quality video over IP content delivery solutions hitting the market.

I will also be speaking with Dale Herigstad, co-founder and Chief Creative officer at Schematic who has worked on the interfaces for XBox 360, Microsoft Surface and is a thought leader on development of GUIs for EPGs.

I’m hoping to get his ideas on the future of TV and content discovery and whether the english language will sooner or later consist entirely of acronyms.

Check out the interview with him above (thanks Kempton) and If you have questions you think I should ask leave a comment.