Getty Images is continuing its foray into broader audiences and nontraditional ways of monetizing its content: Calif.-based blinkx, which claims to be the world’s largest and most advanced video-search engine, now offers a Getty Images channel among some 350 others. The 26 million hours of content delivered through blinkx.com come from sources as diverse as the BBC and CBS to Real Estate TV and shoetube.
Getty content accessible via the blinkx platform includes Wire Image video coverage of celebrities and entertainment-industry events, as well as multimedia content that combines music and voiceover with stills by Getty photographers. Recent examples include a video profile of Bruce Willis and multimedia coverage of the Democratic National Convention.
Once users search and select a piece of video or build a play list, they are directed to a page that also displays advertising. The blinkx business model is similar to that used by PicScout and GumGum to license stills, with the video search engine sharing ad revenue with content providers under undisclosed terms.
Along with the entire online video segment, blinkx has experienced rapid growth since its founding in 2004. In May, Hitwise Intelligence reported that traffic to blinkx.com increased steadily over the past year. Its market share of visits for the first week of May was 10 times higher in 2008 than a year before.
The company attributes this to its patented technology, which “listens to and sees the Web,†as opposed to the limitations of keyword-based search methods. This technology, conceived at Cambridge University and enhanced with $150 million in research and development, also powers a number of high-traffic third-party properties, providing the company with a separate revenue stream. In July, the company added leading Russian search engine Rambler and MSN U.K. to its technology client list.
The blinkx Web site carries a diverse range of content, from news clips and music videos to documentaries and viral content. In addition, the company just soft-launched a separate TV offering, to capitalize on the online explosion of long-form broadcast content.
Having gone public on the London Stock Exchange May 2007, blinkx currently has a market cap of $350 million. It is also trying to expand by acquisition: blinkx just made an offer to purchase MIVA, a Nasdaq-listed digital media company, for a 54% premium above the early-August closing price of MIVA common stock.