Truveo Gets a Makeover; Sets Sights on YouTube

AOL’s video search site Truveo hasn’t seen its name on this blog in some time. Founder Tim Tuttle used to speak at our conferences back in the day (as in 2005 … Internet years). Since then the company has quietly built itself up to the second-largest video search engine behind “Google sites” (which include YouTube and Google video), with 26.5 million monthly visitors.

This week Truveo announced a relaunch for the 17 countries where it operates. This will include a cleaner interface, fewer ads, and an extension of its index to sources that are now in the thousands and videos that total 350 million.

There will be new navigation features to better search this index, including browsing and discovery features to watch videos based on channel, category, show title, popularity and other viral features such as “most Twittered” (presumably most followed or mentioned). This is what the company needs to do if it’s to take share from the comparatively spartan YouTube experience.

Lastly, the company announced it will work with Univision to power the video search on its site. This could be a good combo, as Univision brings more and more of its video content online. Stepping back, this also represents a model Truveo could move toward, as more and more television properties move content online and will need ways to index, search and present the video in a compelling way.

More partnerships like this also presumably add to Truveo’s library and boost its content that can be accessed across its network and on Truveo proper.