CrunchBase, Vator.TV…

Three digital trends coalesce to offer a new “placement” opportunity for PR pros. They are: digital video as a communications vehicle, engaging A-list bloggers, and the wisdom of the crowds.

In an interview with Beet.TV’s Andy Plesser, TechCrunch‘s NY-based co-editor Erick Schonfeld revealed details about CrunchBase, a “free directory of technology companies, people, and investors that anyone can edit. ” The searchable database of tech-oriented video debuted last month.

Schoenfeld, whom this blogger briefly met in the PDF press room last week and who posted today on a study that pokes holes in some of Chris Anderson’s conclusions about “the long tail,” says it’s now easy for publicists to gain a digital foothold on TechCrunch.

Just upload a 60-second video featuring one’s CEO or company founder waxing elevator-like about his or her company. The viewers then vote on the fate of the enterprising video, à la what Amie Street does with its DRM-free music. It also kind of reminds me of Bambi Francisco’s Vator.tv about which this blogger wrote a while back.

Anyway, soon gone are the days when the $50,000 professional video camera was needed to capture broadcast-quality video to offer up to broadcast TV news. Go out and buy a FlipCam and start tooling away. Even more fun, sign up for Qik and feed your video live onto the Web from your mobile phone. Or if you’re really hopeless, you can always turn to one of the new breed of video producers.