• by Shankar Gupta , February 13, 2007

About.com has doubled its video ad inventory--adding 500 new videos in a variety of categories including home, autos, gadgets, food, health, and parenting to its site, the company said Monday. The New York Times Co.-owned site also launched a new embedded video player, designed by Brightcove.

The new videos follow About's "guide" model, which assigns experts to create content on each individual topic. Previously, videos were produced by professional TV personalities on a one-off basis. "This is a huge step forward for us because we've now brought the video production under the guide model, and that's allowing us to now expand very quickly," said Scott Meyer, About.com's CEO.

The new video player allows video to be embedded on the same page with non-video content. Meyer said that integrating the video clips with the non-video content will help About's ad sales teams to sell ads on a session model, with a user getting both display and video advertising for the same product on the same page. "You have a much richer advertising environment, with companion banner ads, pre-roll, video overlays," he said.

Sponsors for About.com's video content include Sears, Cingular, and women's health club Curves.