IP Democracy: AOL Buys Truveo

AOL announced today that it has acquired video search company Truveo, further solidifying the online company’s video search ambitions — AOL bought video search pioneer Singingfish in 2003.

Truveo claims its competitive advantage lies in its “Visual Search” technique, which extends far behind indexing text descriptions of video and actually takes into account the visual characteristics of the content, leading to a more comprehensive video search tool. AOL said in its official statement that once it has incorporated Truveo,

AOL.com will deliver a single, comprehensive and robust video ‘one-stop-shop’ search experience that provides consumers with the access, functionality, premium assets, original content, and advanced search tools for unparalleled online video discovery.

This addition, combined with AOL’s growing video portfolio and its deal with Google, which presumably will cover video search, is clearly another marker by the transitioning online giant in the online video business.

Update: According to Reuters, AOL’s purchase of Truveo, which closed late last year, was the company’s biggest purchase in 2005. Still, as the Reuters article points out, the Truevo buy was nonetheless smaller than AOL’s $435 million acquisition of Advertising.com in 2004…huh? Is that like saying it’s bigger than a breadbox but smaller than, say, a refrigerator?

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 10, 2006 10:39 AM to IP Democracy