On Tuesday, Clicker Media officially launched a programming guide to Internet television. Clicker.com is billed as an unbiased resource for navigating all broadcast and broadcast-quality programming online.
Clicker Media said Clicker.com offers a hub where consumers can discover what programming is available online and where to watch it. In all, Clicker.com indexes more than 400,000 full episodes from more than 1,200 sources and in more than 1,200 categories.
Clicker also catalogs more than 30,000 movies from Netflix Instant Streaming and Amazon Video On Demand and more than 50,000 music videos from more than 20,000 artists. All this represents a 33 percent increase in content coverage since the site made its beta launch in September.
Mountains of Digital Programs
Jim Lanzone, founder and CEO of Clicker Media, said the last era of television was simple to navigate in retrospect. That, he said, is because shows came on at specific times and viewers had a schedule laid out in a neat grid. All that has changed.
"Even the growth from three TV networks to 150-plus cable channels was nowhere near as dramatic as today's changes toward a world of nearly infinite video on demand, scattered among thousands of online destinations," Lanzone said. "Helping viewers navigate this new landscape, to discover what's on online and where to find it, is the singular need Clicker was built to fulfill."
At its core, Clicker.com is a browsable directory of programs by title, category, popularity, air date, and network . Consumers can leverage the on-site search engine to find a specific show or video. They can also build a Clicker Playlist to track which episodes of their favorite shows they've watched, set season passes for high-priority content, and receive alerts when new content becomes available.
Clicker.com also offers an entertainment guide -- from charts of most-popular shows and episodes by category to programs editorially highlighted by the Clicker staff. And a Wiki lets fans offer opinions or discuss broadcasts.
Strong Venture Backing
Clicker.com has seen several improvements since the beta, including a new search-within feature that lets users restrict a search to topics within a specific program. For example, searching "Warren Buffett" within the Charlie Rose show specifically brings up episodes where Buffett is interviewed. There's also a related search function that makes machine-based suggestions on related programs. For example, 30 Rock, The Office, and the Larry Sanders Show are offered as related suggestions for the show Seinfeld.
Clicker.com is also focusing more on social media with its official launch. The site offers Facebook Connect integration so anyone can create a Clicker account with Facebook and let friends see what programming he or she enjoys. Fans can also contribute their thoughts and observations about any show or episode.
As Inside Digital Media Senior Analyst Phil Leigh sees it, Clicker is pursuing a good idea, and there are other companies doing the same thing. But, he said, Clicker is well supported and has a management team that seems to know what it's doing.
"Jim Lanzone used to run Ask.com, which is a search engine that was differentiated from Google and Yahoo and did have its loyal users," Leigh said. "And the venture-capital firm that backs this Clicker, Benchmark Capital, also has a number of winners, most notably eBay. So I think we can count on this company being a real contender for this important future service . The devil will be in the details."
|