AP offers digital analysis to members as papers bypass agency content

The Associated Press (AP) is to give its newspaper partners access to reports on digital trends in the industry, in an arrangement with research firm Outsell Inc.

A release from the AP said the free service will help newspapers to understand online developments, such as web traffic measurement and online advertising issues.

Reports will be sent out quarterly and are free to AP member papers as part of the agency’s new Innovation Toolkit service.

In recent weeks a host of US newspapers have served notice on their membership with the AP, as the Editors Weblog reports, most responding to recent changes in pricing by the agency.

Some papers have grouped together to bypass AP content, while according to BuzzMachine.com, New Jersey’s Star-Ledger published an entirely AP-free edition yesterday.

A comment from Paul Colford, from the AP’s corporate communications department, on the BuzzMachine post said:

“We understand that The Star-Ledger and the media industry as a whole are facing difficult financial challenges and that in this environment many newspapers are experimenting with news priorities and with their presentation of news. The Associated Press has been working with all members of the cooperative, including The Star-Ledger, to determine their needs and to ensure that the AP news report retains its value to them and their readers. Member Choice, the content and pricing initiative rolled out this summer, was in fact developed as a response to member requests for simpler content and pricing options.”

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Publishers’ vertical search can rival Google, says AOP forum

The potential of vertical search engines to wrestle web traffic away from search giants like Google was a topic of debate at yesterday’s AOP forum.

The nature of vertical search, according to the speakers, points readers towards hand-pick sources and presents results in a more dynamic and user-friendly way than the major search engines.

These could be key advantages in the battle to reclaim web traffic from Google and its contemporaries, according to speakers Jonny Orange, media and publishing account manager at Endeca, Simon Baptiste, strategic product manager at FAST, and Daniel Pollock, vice president and lead analyst at Outsell Inc., in the audio below.

While agreeing that publishers can ally against Google and other search engines by denying them access to content - see clip below - Graeme McCracken, chief operating officer for Reed Business Search, said Google should be seen as both a challenge and an opportunity for publishers.

McCracken also announced that RB’s B2B vertical search engine had attracted 350,000 unique users over the last month.

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