Viddler doesn't necessarily want to be the next YouTube; it wants to improve upon and replace YouTube, along with all the other video sites out there.
The Bethlehem-based startup has its sights set high, to be sure, but its ambition is not without good cause. In just a few years, Viddler has distinguished itself among the many video-hosting sites on the Internet with a unique business model: Viddler allows advertising to be embedded in user-generated videos.
Viddler's platform also allows the audience to interact with videos as they please. Timed tags and comments, including video comments, appear at the bottom of the screen as the video plays. Viewers can also create a special Digg button tag for videos they want to share with others.
The idea for Viddler came out of an entrepreneurship class at Lehigh University in 2005. Classmates Rob Sandie and Donna DeMarco produced a prize-winning e-learning video, out of which they developed the company.
With about one million unique users a month and an active online community, Viddler is growing rapidly. In just a few years, the company has gone from operating on one server to operating on 15, picking up high-profile clients like AOL and Sony PlayStation. It took in $50,000 in funding in 2010 from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania and employs about a dozen people full- and part-time, including its HQ in the Lehigh Valley, but expects that number to continue climbing.