Truveo finds video clips often overlooked by text-based search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and Blinkx, by “seeing” visual elements on a web page that indicate the presence of video clips.
The browser then plays the clip, indexes the content through key words or "metadata" embedded in the video file, then delivers results that prioritize new and branded content from high-traffic sites.
“We are using our visual analysis to find video that might live in web pages," Truveo CEO Tim Tuttle said. “Using that approach we can find tons more video than other [web crawlers] can find.”
Tuttle founded the Burlingame -based company with former Inktomi Corp. senior scientist Adam Beguelin.
"Our mission is to build an engine that indexes all of the video on the web, giving users the most relevant and up-to-date results for any video search, be it the latest on Hurricane Katrina or Britney Spears," Tuttle said. The company has no licensing agreement with content providers but avoids infringing by directing users to the content owner's site, Tuttle said.
Google and Yahoo both are working to strike content relationships with news and other information providers.