MSN, Newsy Partnership To Debut

MSN on Tuesday is expected to announce a partnership with mobile-focused video news network Newsy. Similar to other publisher partnerships, Newsy plans to coordinate with MNS’s editors to create a slate of original video content.

“They are a valuable part of our video production strategy,” Matthew Milios, lead video producer for MSN News, said of Newsy.

To meet publisher demand, Newsy sources a range of experts from veterinarians to auto mechanics. With their help, the startup conducts the necessary interviews, shoots original footage, and writes brief scripts to create its branded videos.

Neither Newsy or MSN would discuss financial terms of the deal on Monday. Yet, Jim Spencer, founder and president of Newsy, recently told Online Media Daily: “Newsy does a wide range of business models including rev share, license fee or a mix of the two.”

Founded in 2008, Newsy is currently producing thousands of videos per month for its own Web site and mobile apps, as well as those of its publishing partners.

Newsy’s videos are now distributed through a number of sites and span distribution across mobile, the Web and in-home networks, which generates more than 1 billion views annually, according to Spencer.

As for MSN, the site's ad performance for the first half of the second quarter of 2012 was substantially improved on a year-over-year basis, according to Macquarie Securities. Notably, the percentage of oversized and custom ad units rose from 20% to 29%, and the percentage of purely brand-focused advertising rose from 32% to 50% year-over-year.
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