AOL To Launch New Video Portal
AOL, a leader in live and on-demand entertainment video programming and
video search, announced that it will preview a beta version of its new
AOL Video portal later this week. Available for free to anyone on the
Web at http://www.aolvideo.com, the new AOL Video is an all-in-one,
high-quality entertainment destination to find, watch and share
millions of the best videos across the Web.
New features on the AOL Video portal include: over 45 new
video-on-demand content channels with thousands of hours of video
programming from popular entertainment brands, organized and accessible
via video search, browse, or an interactive programming guide; free
streaming content as well as the ability to purchase and download
full-length content that can be viewed on multiple devices and PCs,
online or offline; and access to millions of music videos, news clips,
movie trailers, full length TV shows, and more.
AOL Video also includes AOL Video Search, which is based on industry
leading video search technology from Truveo and Singingfish, and a
video player that can go full screen without losing picture quality and
that supports AOL’s exclusive Hi-Q video format to watch DVD-quality
videos online.
In addition, the portal includes AOL’s new UnCut Video offering, which
makes it easy to upload and share videos online by providing full
device support, letting consumers upload and share videos directly from
their camcorder, Webcam, video-enabled mobile phone, as well as their
PC.
“AOL has long been a leader in online video and with the new AOL Video
portal we have created the best and easiest place online for anyone on
the Web to find, watch and share the videos they’re looking for,” said
Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President of AOL. “From originally
produced and licensed programming to branded online video-on-demand
channels to user-created videos that people create, upload and share on
the Web themselves, AOL Video is truly the first one-stop source that
brings the best videos on the Web together in one place and gives
consumers more choice. If a video is out there, you’ll find it here on
AOL Video.com.”
New Video-On-Demand Content Channels and Programming Guide
At the center of the AOL Video portal’s main page will be one of the
Web’s first online interactive programming guides (IPG) that brings
together free and download-to-own video content from across broadcast
and cable television and the Web and organizes it into new, branded
video-on-demand channels.
At launch, the AOL Video IPG will feature paid and ad-supported content
on more than 45 video-on-demand channels, including many programmed by
new video content partners, including: A&E Television Networks
(including A&E Network, The History Channel and The Biography
Channel), Comedy Time, Endemol USA, Expo TV, LIME, MTV Networks
(including COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon, The N, Nick at
Nite, Spike TV, TV Land and VH1), National Lampoon, Procter &
Gamble Productions, Inc., SORPRESA!, South Coast Golf, TBS, TNT,
TotalVid, TV Guide, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Wild America and WNBA.
In addition, AOL and its joint venture partners program a variety of
additional channels including: In2TV, TMZ.com, Lat34.com, AOL Uncut
Video, AOL Music, AOL News, AOL Coaches, AOL Television, AOL Viral
Videos, KOL and Moviefone. New video channels and programming from
additional partners will be added on an ongoing basis. A complete list
and descriptions of channels available at launch is included at the end
of the press release.
Powerful Video Search
AOL’s video search engine will be prominently featured on the new
portal. AOL Video Search returns results from all of the most active
video sources on the Internet, including YouTube, Yahoo! (Yahoo Music,
Yahoo News, Yahoo Movies, etc.), Google Video, iFilm, AtomFilms and
more. Powered by AOL’s Truveo and Singingfish technologies, the AOL
Video Search engine is also able to crawl and index high-quality videos
on the Web that traditional search engines are unable to find. AOL’s
unique “Visual Crawling” capability automatically discovers video files
and related information on complex, dynamic web pages – a task that is
a challenge for conventional crawling technologies.
AOL Video Search also has significantly greater reach than any other
video search engine on the Web. Through its network of search
properties – which includes AOL Search, InfoSpace, Real, and others –
AOL Video Search, branded and white-labeled, is available to more users
than any other video search product.
Multi-Faceted Distribution Strategy Extends the AOL Video Experience
AOL Video is built on an open technology platform and architecture that
will enable AOL to extend the AOL Video experience across platforms and
devices to make it easy for users to watch it on multiple screens,
including desktops, laptops, large screens (plasma), and handheld
devices.
Earlier this year AOL and Intel Corporation announced a joint effort to
extend a tailored version of the AOL Video experience to consumers’
living rooms via Intel Viiv technology-based PCs. The companies plan to
launch this new “10-foot” experience in the coming weeks, making the
content easily viewable on large screen TVs and other devices.
This fall, AOL plans to make available Open APIs that will enable
developers to incorporate AOL’s leading Video Search results into
third-party user experiences, as well as other tools that will enable
developers and consumers to incorporate features from the AOL Video
portal for other websites. In addition, AOL is working with PC OEMs and
broadband service providers to develop co-branded versions of the AOL
Video portal.