Bing’s video search has a fresh new coat of paint, and it’s a vast improvement in both form and function.
Bing recently introduced a redesign to its video search layout to make it easier and faster to find the video you want. In addition to the new look, Bing video search has added new information for each result, such as the channel it comes from, the number of views it has, and upload date. The new redesign is also music-centric, with several additional features that appear only when you search for a song.
The new song-related features build on changes Bing made to music video search in late 2013.
What’s new
At the center of the new Bing video search are larger thumbnail images on the results page, with the videos arranged in a straightforward grid as before. The number of videos per row changes based on your screen size. A 22-inch 1080p monitor will show you about six results, for example, while a 12.5-inch 1366-by-768 screen only gets four. Hover over a thumbnail image and, if the originating site allows it, you can watch a short preview as usual.
Underneath each thumbnail is where you’ll see the extra data, such as channel, number of views, and so on. Duration is also included, but that’s been a feature with Bing video search for some time.
The story behind the story: New looks, a focus on music, and more data for each result. It all adds up to Bing trying to become the best YouTube search engine available today. It includes videos from other sites such as Dailymotion and Vimeo, of course, but Bing’s results are dominated by YouTube since the Google-owned site is the preeminent place to watch videos online.
All about the song
Bing’s new song-specific video search.
Let’s say we searched for Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson, featuring Bruno Mars.
As with previous versions of Bing video search, you’ll see other songs by the artist with a small thumbnail image of the artist on a dark background at the top of the page. In the case of Uptown Funk, you see the top songs by Mark Ronson.
Below that, you see a large thumbnail for the top result, which in most cases should be the video for the song you’re looking for. If you hover over the large image, the video won’t give you a preview. Press play, however, and the video starts playing in full right on the results page. Next to the featured search result, you’ll see other results and below that a horizontal carousel of related artists, followed by more video results.
Overall, the new Bing video search is much nicer to look at than previous versions, adds more information, and far exceeds the search experience on standard Google, Google video, and YouTube searches. Give it a try on Bing.com/videos.
[via The Verge]