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Viddler: a New Online Video Service That Doesn't Fiddle Around

Move over, Youtube; there’s a new online video sharing site in town.

Viddler, set to officially launch in September, is a video sharing service that goes deeper than other mainstream video sites like Google Video and its sister Youtube by offering users the ability to add tags and comments to particular points in a video.

Comments on Youtube videos sometimes refer to a specific time point in the video. Viddler takes this a step further by letting users tag specific moments, which people can comment on and discuss to their hearts’ content.

Users can also link to and embed videos, either in entirety, or from a point they select, making Viddler quite a bit more flexible than Youtube. And although Google Video recently included the ability to link to particular points in a video, Viddler makes it easier to do, and combines this feature with a number of others.

Users can also upload multiple videos simultaneously, and uploading will not pause your operating interface.

If you want to start producing content, there’s no need to pirate the latest Adobe Premier bundle, either. Viddler requires little more than a webcam and an internet connection to record and upload videos.

Youtube offers this same ease-of-use, but I’ve found that their 100 megabyte video limit can really crimp my style. Viddler’s max video size is a whopping 500 megabytes — five times more than Youtube, and more than enough reason to shift me personally to the Viddler side — that, and their corny name, which has inherent appeal to this longtime fiddle player.

Another notable aspect of Viddler is that their business model is not driven by pageviews and advertising but by subscription for premium features.

This is a notable departure from traditional models. Pageviews are increasingly less relevant in a Web world ruled by AJAX, where users spend less time reloading sites or changing pages to access new content.

And advertising models, which new media peddlers typically hope will pay the bills, aren’t as dependable as a venture capitalist would like.

The premium subscription features have not yet been announced, but they had better be exceptional if Viddler expects to thrive on paid services.

Though Viddler has a number of hurdles to overcome (most notably a severe lack of content compared to established video giant Youtube) we have faith in its at least moderate success in the marketplace if its premium services are anywhere near as enticing as its array of free services.

Could Viddler become the next major player in online video? Anything’s possible. Share your view or check Viddler out for yourself.