Online advertising company LookSmart has enlisted video search engine Blinkx to power the video search results on its largest consumer site FindArticles.com.

Blinkx will be threading news clips, short documentaries, TV content, movies and other videos based on user search terms. The site will offer categorically relevant videos under its Arts & Entertainment and Business & Finance sections first, moving to other categories throughout the spring and early summer.

The partnership is designed to boost the number of visitors to FindArticles.com, as well as increase the amount of time spent there. LookSmart's network audience has grown fourfold in two years, the company reports, peaking in November 2006 with 17.6 million unique visitors.

Dave Hills, president and CEO of LookSmart, thinks the addition of Blinkx's video search capabilities, which includes visual analysis and speech recognition technology, will provide new opportunities for advertisers.

"After looking at many options for a video partner who could help grow FindArticles' audience, blinkx's content, publisher relationships and technology made them a hands-down winner," said Hills. "We look forward to this first phase of a growing relationship with the blinkx team."

In addition to growing its user base and time spent at FindArticles, LookSmart hopes the Blinkx partnership will increase advertising revenue for the company. Part of that goal is better content, which the company pulls from about 3,000 sources.

LookSmart says it spent the greater part of 2006 looking for ways to enhance the consumer experience through high-value content. 

Blinkx has been getting a lot of attention as of late, enough attention that acquisition speculation began swirling around the blogosphere in January. Google seems to be the most-suggested suitor.

Another strategic video acquisition could further solidify Google's presence in this space, especially as rival Microsoft teams up with News Corp., AOL, and others just so their collective might will have a chance against Google and YouTube.

Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CTO of Blinkx, has not yet commented on acquisition rumors.

LookSmart Blinkx Video Search