WebProNews

Ask isn’t the top search engine, and Blinkx isn’t the most recognizable name in the world of online video, but both companies have done some pretty impressive things.  Now they’re doing them together - Blinkx will power Ask’s video search engine.

A press release announces that, “[i]n addition, blinkx will also provide the video search capabilities for Ask.com’s Smart Answers.”  And “Ask.com users will benefit from blinkx’s index of over 12 million hours of audio and video content.”  There should be no complaints from the users’ end of things, then.

The businesses’ end should also turn out fine.  “blinkx will generate revenue from this relationship through video searches undertaken by Ask.com users,” states the release.  Just how much revenue remains undisclosed, but, well, that’s pretty much always the case.

Still, there’s evidence that Blinkx’s stock benefited from the announcement, as Daniel Thomas of the Dow Jones Newswires indicates.  “At 0713GMT shares in Blinkx traded up 1.75p, or 3.6% at 50.25 pence in a broadly higher London market,” he writes.

For Ask’s part, there is some positive press to be had, although much of it has been due to a separate product/service launch; WebProNews’s own David Utter did an extensive interview with the company’s director of online information resources, Gary Price, about Ask3D, which was also released today.

It’s hard to say whether Ask or Blinkx will benefit more from the video deal.  Only time - and perhaps Blinkx’s stock price - will tell, I suppose.

Hat tip to Search Engine Land's Barry Schwartz.