Excite eyes local listings
Encroaching on the lucrative market for localized content, the company unveils a search tool for entertainment listings.
Dubbed Event Finder and featured prominently in Excite's travel section, the new feature is the latest implementation of technology the search firm picked up with its NetBot acquisition last year. That company's Jango Net search technology finds specific data points--such as a concert date or a ticket price--within a database.
So far, Excite has implemented Jango technology for more than two dozen categories under its shopping channel. The company also is integrating the technology into other product-oriented channels, including autos and its computing and Internet channel, to provide competitive price reviews.
Jango is behind the expanded Excite search results for publicly traded companies and sports teams. Searches for corporations yield a stock ticker, news, and other company information in addition to regular directory and search results. Searches on sports teams display team colors and a game schedule on top of the standard search and directory results.
Event Finder lets users specify a city, a month, and a type of event to come up with specific entertainment listings culled from more than 20 sites, including TicketMaster, PlayBill, and EventCal. Excite also supplies links back to those sites for more information on the events and ticket information.
The tool searches under the following categories: festivals, film festivals, movies, sporting events, trade shows, and shows.
With the Event Finder, Excite is moving in on the valuable market for localized content, targeting users interested in local listings, reviews, and other information. Competitors in this space include CitySearch and Microsoft's Sidewalk, as well as America Online's Digital City.