New Online TV Guide, "Clicker," Enters Crowded Field

The online television listing serving Clicker launched last week, entering the crowded business of online television listings.

We caught up with the Los Angeles based company's CEO Jim Lanzone at NewTeeVee Live last week and asked him about the service and how it stands out in a competitive space.

"Clicker is the complete programming guide for Internet television," Lanzone said. The service catalogs 400,000 full episodes across thousands of distribution points online and brings them together in one site, he said.

The service has been in private beta since September, meaning users needed an invite to use the site. Now, anyone can use Clicker, Lanzone said. The company made the decision to launch officially based on user feedback from the last few months.

Clicker aims to make money via advertising and lead generation, but for now Lanzone is focused on building an audience. That's no easy task as the company faces competition from market leaders like TVGuide.com and OVGuide.com. Both of those sites offer listings and help Web users navigate and find both TV shows and original Web video online. Another popular programming guide is SideReel.com. In addition, many consumers simply turn to Hulu first to find shows to watch.

Clicker lists shows by title, category, recommended, popular and by media, such as TV or Web original. "You can search it and it's in a directory format almost like a Wikipedia for online programming," Lanzone said.

Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer