Surfing the TV

SnapStream brings the Web search model to TV viewers

It is hard to imagine surfing the Internet without a search engine, yet this remains the only option for television viewers seeking a similar experience. But as the Internet and TV continue to converge, this may no longer be acceptable. More so than games or unified communications, the merging of the digital video recorder and search engine just might be TV's next killer app.

Recognizing this, SnapStream offers a hybrid search approach for enterprise customers. SnapStream Enterprise allows any organization to record up to 10 TV shows totaling more than 9000 hours and search within them for mentions of keywords. Users then can download, burn to DVD, sync to an iPod or iPhone, store on a hard drive, convert to Windows Media or H.264, or import the clip to third-party applications.

“We are bringing some of the power of new media, things like easily being able to search media and to copy/paste and link to media, and we make it so those things are possible to do on the old media of television,” said Rakesh Agrawal, CEO of SnapStream.

Current customers range from political organizations searching for coverage to radio stations looking to extract the best sound bites from each day's news. Clients such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office use it to monitor the mayor's image, while other customers such as the Late Show with David Letterman use it to poke fun at that same image.

Making the SnapStream Enterprise a consumer offering is not in the works for now, Agrawal said, although it is something SnapStream has been talking about. He's not yet convinced that search features on the TV matter as much to consumers as they do to enterprises.

But Richard Doherty, director for the Envisioneering Group, thinks it might actually matter for more reasons than one. He envisions a consumer version of the SnapSearch Enterprise that could be used for academic media monitoring, for politicos to follow the election or even for social applications.

“Certainly, from the traffic that occurs on MySpace and blogs, there is a huge interest in [TV] guest stars and back-story elements, where that and the dialogue search capabilities of SnapStream could lead to a very enriched fan environment,” Doherty said. “That is certainly something that the larger broadcast networks and cable networks, from Discovery to SciFi to Universal Properties, are all looking to expand: the consumer connection and affinity for the show.”

Considering this, it is not just program owners that would benefit from such a service at the consumer level. The stars and staff behind a TV show all have a vested interest in building communities of extra information that go beyond the caption line. ABC's Lost already had this realization and added a ticker along the bottom of the screen to offer extra information during repeat airings of episodes. These are the types of services consumers are requesting, Doherty said, and they shouldn't have to go beyond the TV to find them.