We’re big fans of Apture, a startup that brings instantaneous search to content on the web. Today, Apture is announcing a new board member and new publishers using its plug-in. As we’ve written in the past, ‘Apture Highlights’ plugs the “search leak” that is taking place with content on the web. The feature allows you to highlight any word or phrase on a page and instantly bring up search results in a window. The startup brings results from 60-plus sources including YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, Google and more for extra context around content.
Apture is adding former About.com CEO Peter Horan to its board of directors. Horan was formerly the CEO of About.com, which was acquired by the New York Times for $410 million in 2005. Most recently, Horan was the CEO of IAC Media & Advertising.
Apture’s business model offers publishers a white-label version of Apture Highlights, which is being used by Scribd, The Financial Times and Reuters. CEO Tristan Harris is also announcing a number of new publishers are adopting Apture, including Economist.com, ScientificAmerican, BleacherReport.com, and Times of India. While Harris cannot comment on the amount of searches being made via Apture’s plug-in, he says that consumers stay on a publisher page with Apture two to three times longer than without the plug-in.
The startup, which has raised $4.1 million in funding, has also started to place ads in the browsing experience. Publishers pay a monthly licensing fee to have a branded, ad-free experience, but Apture now includes ads within searches for the consumer facing and free products.