Blinkx Actions and Rumors

July 17, 2008

Blinkx is in the news again. As you may know, Blinkx is a video search service. Beta News reported on July 16, 2008, that the company is taking offensive and defensive action. You can read Jacqueline Emigh’s story “Rumored Google Target Blinkx Teams with Microsoft, Others” here.

Ms. Emigh cites another Web log. The paragraph of interest to me was:

“Speculation is rising around a potential acquisition of Blinkx, a video search engine, by either Google or News Corp. (and possibly Yahoo),” noted a blog posting in May by Heather Dougherty, director of research at the Hitwise market research firm.

Blinkx reports that it you can search over 26 million hours of video from Google Video, YouTube, MetaCafe, and others.

Among Blinkx’ new deals are tie ups with:

Elo in Brazil
MSN (Microsoft Network) in the United Kingdom
Rambler in Russia

You can learn more about Blinkx here. The Register offers a different angle here.

I am not sure what to make of this story. In 2005, Blinkx was an independent company according to this posting in Search Engine Watch. I have heard that the company is linked to Autonomy, but I need to look into this alleged tie up more closely.

The phrase “sharpened its defense and offense” continues to puzzle me. Does Blinkx want to be purchased by Google or Yahoo? Does Blinkx want to remain independent? More information is needed.

Working Hypotheses

My working hypotheses are:

This is a PR play, designed to increase visibility of Blinkx and focus attention on what are partnering deals, probably not big money makers yet.
Blinkx is a hot property, and the company’s management is aggressively positioning the search engine for acquisition
Video search is a money pit, and the company is pursuing tie ups in hopes of finding a formula to boost revenues and get the stock moving upwards.

The honking goose will fly over its available information and update this Blinkx coverage. My earlier essay about Blinkx is here.

Stephen Arnold, July 17, 2008

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under News, Online (general), Search

Comments

3 Responses to “Blinkx Actions and Rumors”

Charlie Hull on July 17th, 2008 3:42 am

Blinkx are indeed an Autonomy spinout.
tech guru on July 17th, 2008 1:51 pm

definately one to keep on your watch list Stephen…
Justin Charlston on July 27th, 2008 4:32 pm

This company Blinkx is a dead cert to be aquired by any of the big 4.

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.