OVGuide
 OVGuide logo | |
| Web address | www.ovguide.com |
|---|---|
| Type of site |
Online video website directory and video search engine |
| Registration | Not required for most services |
| Owner | Private Corporation |
| Created by |
Dale Bock, Founder Sanjay Reddy, CEO David Bohnett, Chairman |
| Launched | July 2006 |
| Current status | active |
OVGuide is a website aggregator which allows users to find online video content. The name of the site stands for Online Video Guide. It is independently owned and was created in 2006. A relatively small number of video sites were known when OVGuide first launched, and OVGuide is considered part of the rising pool of video sites created in response to YouTube.
Included sites
Sites are submitted by users and selected based on editorial review. Once a site is approved for inclusion, it is categorized according to its niche content. Editors do not review specific video titles, but look at the overall quality of a site, such as checking for enough unique video content, potential spyware, excessive ads, or other factors which would make a video site unacceptable for inclusion.
Features
Categories include movies, TV, general video, entertainment, online video games, education, sports, and others.
A search engine developed by OVGuide, called Relevis, allows one to search for specific video content within a category, or across all categories. Results list both free and premium paid sources. Paid sources come from partnerships with Hulu, Amazon.com, iTunes, HitBliss, and other media companies.
OVGuide offers five main features: (1) content discovery, (2) video search, (3) video site discovery, (4) community, and (5) personalization. OVGuide video content pages let users browse and search for different topics. A proprietary related video relevancy algorithm connects the pages together. OVGuide's search engine provides video content results found on sites listed on the guide. Search can be done at the category level, or it can include every site on the guide. There are over 6,000 video sites currently listed and over 12 million video content pages. Content discovery features include user generated top 10 lists, editor's pick videos, content browsing tools, movie/TV browse tools, and listings of real-time keyword searches (called OVBuzz).
The company also offers mobile applications for the iPhone, Android and iPad that allows users to watch full-length movies and browse popular viral video content. One can also access OVGuide on Roku.
Reception
OVGuide is currently ranked as one of the top 1,500 sites in the United States according to Alexa and a top 400 (150 mobile) site on Quantcast. From May 2007 to May 2008, OVGuide was the 3rd fastest growing website in the USA among websites being tracked by comScore. comScore also lists them as being one of the top 25 entertainment / multimedia websites in the U.S. The October 2008 issue of PC World ranked them as one of the 100 most useful sites on the web. Time Magazine named OVGuide as a top 10 best new website for 2006. On November 15, 2008, OVGuide's traffic exceeded one million daily visitors.
In 2009 and 2010, OVGuide was selected by OnHollywood as one of their top 100 sites and a top 10 digital entertainment consumer service site. Hitwise reported OVGuide.com as one of the top 15 multimedia properties in the world and a top site for ad agencies to reach the often elusive 18- to 24-year-old Millennials with $150K family incomes. Kiplinger magazine named OVGuide as one of the top 30 free things available to consumers in their third annual Fabulous Freebies list.
Financials
In January 2009, OVGuide posted its first profitable month as a corporation. Ad revenue came from banners, contextual search ads, and paid placement of featured video sites. The following month, the company received $5M in funding from Baroda Ventures.
Special events
OVGuide participated as one of the exclusive live streamers of Leeza Gibbons' 'A Night to Make a Difference' at Mr. Chow, an Oscar dinner and charity celebration, which took place on Sunday, February 22, 2009. The event marked the first time an Academy Awards Oscar Party was streamed online to a live world-wide audience.
Acquisitions
In 2010 OVGuide acquired IBeatYou. IBeatYou.com is an online multimedia competition site where users challenge each other in hundreds of categories using videos, photos and text responses. Winning entries are selected by public votes. It ran primarily as a separate business venture with some integration into OVGuide. The developers at IBeatYou played key roles in redesigning an improved version of OVGuide that was released at the end of 2010. Other projects developed by the IBeatYou team include Picbeat - a photo sharing site, and Juicybooth.com, which allows users to interactively spoof pictures. The total deal was worth $2.975M, with $1.487M in earnout. IBeatYou was later acquired from OVGuide by Photobucket in an all-stock transaction.
Live Matrix was acquired by OVGuide in early 2012. They are a guide to live and upcoming scheduled events on the Web. It was seen as a strategic business move to expand OVGuide into becoming a live event guide too. As part of the deal, Sanjay Reddy, who was the CEO/co-founder of Live Matrix, replaced Peter Lee as OVGuide's new CEO. Reddy was the SVP, Business Development & Strategic Planning, at Gemstar-TV Guide International and has an extensive background in the online multimedia space. It was an all-stock deal.
See also
- Eguiders
- YouTube
- Tubefilter
References
Ettleman, Lee, Time Top 10 Lists, archived from the original on 2007-01-17, retrieved 2007-06-30
Sullivan, Mark, 100 Incredibly Useful and Interesting Web Sites, retrieved 2008-10-03
Alexa, .com, Traffic Rankings: OVGuide.com, retrieved 2008-03-01
Fierce, Online Video, OVGuide.com Raises $5 Million, retrieved 2011-07-01
OVGuide.com to Host Leeza Gibbons' 'A Night to Make a Difference' at Mr. Chow Live Stream, retrieved 2011-07-01
Announcing the 2010 OnHollywood 100 Top Private Companies, retrieved 2011-07-01
Kiplinger's Fabulous Freebies 2009, retrieved 2009-08-30
Look at Me! 'A' is for Attention, retrieved 2010-06-17
OVGuide Buys Live Matrix, retrieved 2012-02-18
Live Matrix, The 'TV Guide For The Web,' Acquired By OVGuide, retrieved 2012-02-18
OVGuide Merges With IBeatYou, retrieved 2012-02-18