One of the problems with online video, mainly speaking on YouTube et al, is that there’s so much of it — already on the site and the new stuff coming out each day — it gets harder to aggregate what’s good, what’s hot, what’s a fad, what’s funny, not to mention a little overwhelming. TVGuide solved this problem with network television when it came out in 1953, and Mobunga, which launched today in public beta, aims to do the same to online video — podcasts, vidcasts, TV shows, shortfilms, trailers, movies and clips.
A privately-funded project, Mobunga is driven by a combination of content submissions from users and their own editors scouring the web each day for a variety of free and paid content. What I love is that all the videos are also available to download in the iPod, PSP, and/or mobile phone format. Every page has an RSS feed as well — a necessity in today’s world – and the ability to share it with other people, rate it, and add it to your favorites.
Both on the UI and platform side, Mobunga is quite well-built and this shows. Everything is clear-cut and I didn’t have any trouble finding or looking for something, nor did I have to waste a second to ponder with a confused expression on my face: it’s simple, fast, and to-the-point. Users can browse and look for videos through tags, by categories, or by searching.
While the content itself on it is highly-picked, they’ve also made available a Charts page which displays the popular content on Mobunga itself. For podcasters, vidcasters and independent content-creators, it’s also a really good platform to promote their content. They can easily submit it, like they would on YouTube, and even charge for it.
In conclusion, Mobunga I found to be a really well-made service that fills a gap, provides a use, and at the same time proves to be a handy utility for the masses. I’m uncertain as to what kind of a future it holds, but if things keep going the way they have, no doubt it’ll be a good one.
[tags]Online Video, Mobunga, YouTube[/tags]
