OVGuide

OVGuide

URL	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 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. Created in 2006, it is considered to be the world's first popular guide to video content and sites that for the first time allowed users to go beyond exploring video on a limited set of known providers. A relatively small number of video sites were known when OVGuide first launched. It opened up an entirely new world of video content for many people that had only been exposed to a couple of sites, such as youtube.

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. Editor's 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. 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.

OVGuide offers five main features. (1) Video site discovery, (2) video search, (3) content discovery, (4) community, and (5) personalization. The grid of sites allows users to browse both video sites and content. A 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 millions of video urls in their search database. 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).

OVGuide is currently ranked as one of the top 1,000 sites in the United States according to Alexa and a top 350 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 Magazine 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 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.

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.

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 Millenials 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.

References

Ettleman, Lee, Time Top 10 Lists, archived from the original on 2007-01-17, http://web.archive.org/web/20070117063653/http://www.time.com/time/topten/2006/websites/10.html, retrieved 2007-06-30 

Sullivan, Mark, 100 Incredibly Useful and Interesting Web Sites, http://www.pcworld.com/article/150897/100_incredibly_useful_and_interesting_web_sites.html, retrieved 2008-10-03 

Alexa, .com, Traffic Rankings: OVGuide.com, http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=ovguide.com&url=ovguide.com/, retrieved 2008-03-01 

Fierce, Online Video, OVGuide.com Raises $5 Million, http://www.fierceonlinevideo.com/story/ovguide-com-raises-5m-shows-profit-jan/2009-02-18/, retrieved 2011-07-01 

OVGuide.com to Host Leeza Gibbons' 'A Night to Make a Difference' at Mr. Chow Live Stream, http://hollywoodindustry.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=665175, retrieved 2011-07-01 

Announcing the 2010 OnHollywood 100 Top Private Companies, http://alwayson.goingon.com/AOStory/Announcing-2010-OnHollywood-100, retrieved 2011-07-01 

Kiplinger's Fabulous Freebies 2009, http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2009/08/freelist_2009.html, retrieved 2009-08-30 

Look at Me! 'A' is for Attention, http://millennialmarketing.com/2010/06/look-at-me-%E2%80%98a%E2%80%99-is-for-attention/, retrieved 2010-06-17 

External links

• OVGuide website
• OVGuide named "Top Ten Best New Web Site" for 2006 by TIME Magazine
• Baroda Ventures

See also

• Eguiders
• YouTube
• Tubefilter