Skip to main content

Digg Video launches, aggregating a mix of funny and serious clips

Digg Video launches, aggregating a mix of funny and serious clips

Share this story

digg video
digg video

Digg just launched Digg Video, a new vertical that features a mix of entertaining and informative clips updated throughout the day by the site's editors.

Digg.com/video mirrors the look of Digg.com, featuring one lead video atop three columns of additional clips. The browser and mobile web version launch today, with the iOS app launching shortly and Android version coming later this month.

The new vertical is no surprise considering the rising popularity of video on the web. "Videos perform significantly better than other stories on the Digg homepage," says Andrew McLaughlin, CEO of the team that relaunched the content aggregator in 2012. "That suggests a high level of user interest in videos; we want to feed that interest without overwhelming the Digg homepage to the exclusion of written pieces."

Editors will post around two dozen new videos a day on Digg Video. The Digg home page will continue to "highlight a few videos" every day, McLaughlin tells The Verge.

Digg's videos are meatier than those on competitor Reddit.tv, which pulls content posted to Reddit into a single player that auto-advances for maximum brainless consumption. The average time on Reddit.tv is 39 minutes, according to Reddit general manager Erik Martin, and the company is in the process of updating the site. The new site also resembles video aggregator Devour.

Digg's videos are meatier than those on competitor Reddit.tv

Digg Video's debut editorial mix is a balance of the lighthearted and serious, featuring an investigative mini-documentary from The New York Times alongside a clip of an "absurd 360 dunk" and a supercut of Woody Allen characters saying the phrase "make love." Each video opens on a new page, which can slow down browsing but also emphasizes each clip.

The relatively new Digg team, which is incubating at the Manhattan-based startup hub Betaworks, has been churning out products. The company launched an RSS reader in June and an Android app in August. The revamped Digg.com, a revival of the site that peaked around 2008, launched 14 months ago with a focus on editorial curation over user input.

Digg claims its traffic is growing, although third-party analytics suggest it has not increased much since the relaunch. Traffic from referrals sent by Digg is up according to publishers, however, implying that the site is having a comeback after all. Perhaps the new video site will boost its profile again as the company attempts to regain the brand's former relevance.