Digitalsmiths Flexes Video Search Muscle

Digitalsmiths, in an attempt to stand out from the far-too-many white-label video vendors out there, today launched an update to its video publishing platform that brings out the company’s roots in video search. The company now calls its platform “VideoSense” and its time-based metadata framework “MetaFrame.”

Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based Digitalsmiths, which powers video for many Time Warner sites including Warner Bros. and TMZ, has already shifted some of its customers to this new platform. CEO Ben Weinberger said the company has signed additional unannounced studios, and plans to build on its business of indexing and providing TV and online video by adding films.

VideoSense uses a combination of factors such as facial recognition, scene classification and object identification to associate any given aspect of a video with a time stamp. The platform also makes connections between aspects like actor names, locations and dialogue and the particular frame in which they occur. So visitors to a video site could use the search functionality to pinpoint their vaguely remembered television moments — say, a certain actor visiting a venue, or a character joking about a particular topic.

That kind of powerful search seems like it would be especially useful if applied on a web-wide video search engine rather than locked into single-studio content libraries. However, Digitalsmiths is firmly focused on its white-label video program rather than a consumer service.

Digitalsmiths raised a $12 million Series B funding last fall and said it added strategic funding from Cisco in January.