Dabble has built a video search platform around the preferences of viewers.  Founder and CEO Mary Hodder calls it "people powered search."

The company will soon provide metadata about search to publishers who need to understand why and where their clips are being watch.  If Mary can solve this, it would be a substantial business.  She told me this does not entail sharing data about individuals, just metadata, which we understand to be akin to market research results coming from Nielsen.

I caught up with her recently at the NewTeeVee conference in San Francisco where she was on a panel.

Update:  11/26:  The Wall Street Journal has a story today on how technology from a Boston area start-up company  Navic Networks is providing  viewership  data  on  Cox Cable systems for marketers.   Also, the International Herald Tribune has a story about a French company tracking IPTV viewership.

This data has a great deal of value.

-- Andy Plesser