The podcast search engine just added video podcast search to its existing full-text podcast search service online.
On PodZinger, users have been able to take advantage of its backer’s speech recognition technology to find podcasts through the kind of querying they already know thanks to the likes of Google and other search engines. PodZinger announced today its site has added video search capability.
Video has grown online as broadband use increases, particularly in the United States. Now, content in the form of videos from amateur, professional, and amateurs who want to be professionals has increased dramatically.
Sites like Google Video and YouTube encourage video uploads, and MySpace recently made a film-focused portal available for its users. Apple made lots of news last year with its long-awaited video iPod release, which has brought major networks into the online marketplace to distribute their content.
With the rapid expansion of video content available, and the nascent development of video blogging, the need for such a service as PodZinger’s video search becomes apparent.
Using a straight forward query of ‘dvd player review’, PodZinger returned several results. The top three in the results for my query came from DL.tv, the Mac Pro Podcast, and to my delight a Diggnation video too.
On the left side of the results page, a small player for each video podcast appears next to the result for it. PodZinger provides a brief, time-marked transcript containing the keywords queried. Any word in the snippet can be clicked to start the video from that point in the PodZinger player.
Each of those players has links to download the episode or grab its RSS feed. Also, users of iTunes or Yahoo Podcasts can subscribe the podcast from the player to either of those services.
PodZinger’s president Alex Laats sees a profitable future for video podcasting, too:
“A search tool that allows consumers to quickly and easily find the exact information they need, exploits the full value and power of video content. For instance, full text search enables a viable advertising business model for video creators and advertisers looking to monetize their content. We expect to see strong growth in advertising tied to video in the upcoming months as advertisers understand the access they now have thanks to PodZinger.”
—
Add to document.write(“Del.icio.us”) | DiggThis | Yahoo! My Web
Drag this 
David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
