(8 January 2008 5:00 pm)

BANGALORE:Truveo, a video search engine, today announced that its index has exceeded 100 million online videos. Based on current growth rates, Truveo expects the online video universe to reach one billion searchable videos by 2009. For the past four years, Truveo claims that it has operated one of the largest and most comprehensive video search engines on the Internet.

During 2007, Truveo's index grew 20 fold - from five million videos to over 100 million videos as per an official release. One year ago, Truveo's servers were charting approximately 20,000 – 40,000 new videos coming online each day. Today, Truveo is tracking over 500,000 new videos uploaded to the Web daily. Based on the dramatic growth in online video currently underway and the increasing importance of the Internet as a video distribution medium, Truveo expects the number of searchable videos on the Web to reach one billion by 2009.

Truveo's measurement of online video growth over the past year reveals that it is a widespread phenomenon. While user-generated video continues to be popular, 2007 saw a dramatic increase in both the number of online video providers as well as the amount of professionally produced video available online says the release. Additionally, 2007 marked the year when international growth in online video outpaced growth in the United States.

“2007 was an amazing year for online video in terms of available content, viewership and industry interest. 2008 looks to be even stronger,” says Truveo CEO and co-founder and AOL Video senior vice president Timothy Tuttle,. “Just a few years ago online video was a novelty but now it's clear that 2007 was the year that online video moved into the mainstream. As we move to the era of one billion videos, search will be critical for anyone who wants to find something to watch.”

A number of studies last year also pointed out the growth and importance of online video. In October 2007, comScore reported that Americans watched nearly 10 billion videos online in a single month. ComScore also reported that nearly 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched an average of three hours of online video during each month.3 A November 2007 poll of nearly 300 media execs by JackMyers Media Business Report and Teletrax predicts that 40% of all video consumption will occur outside of the television set by 2012.4

2007 was also the year when professional video began to flood the Internet and consumers clearly stated a preference for it. According to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 62% of online video viewers say that their favorite videos are those that are 'professionally produced.'5

2007 also marked the year when online video became a worldwide phenomenon. As per the press release, following the first phase of its 15 country international expansion, Truveo saw traffic to its websites (fr.truveo.com, in.truveo.com, etc.) grow by 250% and now more than 70% of visitors to Truveo websites are from outside the United States.1

Says AOL executive vice president Kevin Conroy. "As the number of user-generated videos and network and cable television programs available on the Web continues to grow, we expect 2008 to be the year when watching TV shows and other high-quality videos online will become a truly mass market behavior in a way that complements traditional television viewership.”