Yahoo!’s Video Search

Yahoo!’s Video Search just came out of beta and is now ready for primetime. If you are looking for a video clip online, this is a good search engine to use. They have partnered up with some major content publishers to fortify their offerings, including MTV, Buena Vista (including the latest clips and trailers for The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy), CBS News, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Discovery Channel, Scripps Networks (HGTV and The Food Network), and VH1. However, this doesn’t mean that you can type in any ol’ TV show and find full episodes to view online. Video Search is still all about the clips, which is fine, if you are looking for a popular clip like Jon Stewart’s appearance on Crossfire or your favorite SNL skit.

However, watching TV online could be the future, which makes me curious what Google is up to. Rumor has it they are secretly recording and indexing TV programming to make shows searchable online, much the way it brings library books to the Web. In addition, Google has a video upload program, which you can log in to with your Google account (if you have a Gmail address, you have a Google account). Great for indie directors looking for exposure, but what about the rest of us? According to the terms of service, it sounds like you must have all the necessary rights and permissions to the content before uploading it. Hmm, does that mean I can’t upload various clips I’ve collected? Probably not. To test this theory, I’m uploading a favorite SNL skit to see if it will get added to their pathetic search results for that particular skit. Will keep you posted.