• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, August 30, 2005

Online video provider Roo Media this summer quietly started offering its collection of 5,000 video clips to four video search engines on RSS feeds, as an alternative to putting meta-tags on the videos.

"We very much see RSS as the future of how content is syndicated," said Robert Petty, Roo's CEO and chairman of the board.

Blinkx, Singingfish (owned by America Online), Windows Radio, and AOL are now taking Roo's content from RSS feeds, under deals that Roo struck with them earlier this summer. Since the arrangements went into effect, Roo has seen a 10 percent increase in the videos viewed by consumers, Pettty said.

Roo mainly licenses the clips--including news, movie trailers, and movie videos--from companies such as the Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, Sony Music, and Disney. Roo also produces about 5 percent of all clips itself; early next year, the company plans to produce around 20 percent of content itself.

The videos are supported by ads--15-second pre-rolls from companies such as Pfizer, Walgreens, Honda, and Hyundai. For the most part, the ads to date have been repurposed TV spots.

Blinkx founder Suranga Chandratillake said that Roo isn't the only content provider that now makes videos available via RSS. Fox News--whose parent company, News Corp., has designs on Blinkx, according to The Los Angeles Times--also offers Blinkx its videos on RSS through a partnership.