Abstract: A system and method for computerized searching for items of interest contained in visual media assets, such as a movie or video, stores digital tag information for tagged visual media assets which includes for each tag a time code for a representative image frame, an address code for the storage location of a captured image-still of the frame, and one or more keywords representing the item(s) of interest or their characteristics. When a search request is entered with keywords for items of interest, the search result lists entries from tags containing those keywords, and can also display the captured image-stills (or thumbnail photos thereof) as a visual depiction of the search results. The search service enables advertisers and vendors to bid on rights to link their advertising and other information displays to the search results. The search service can also be used for playback of clips from media assets to viewers on a video viewing website or on a networked playback device.