• by Shankar Gupta , November 10, 2005

In a deal that expands MSN's reach, the company said Wednesday it will syndicate its video player to affiliates of the Associated Press and sell rich media video ads to accompany AP videos.

"[The Associated Press] are bringing to the table distribution, through their 3,500 affiliates, and bringing an unmatched news-gathering organization," said MSN's director of advertising and business strategy, Todd Herman. "We're bringing a couple of things to the table: One is the entire video product--that comes with the player, and the ad system. And our expertise in selling broadband video advertising."

Under the deal, any of the AP's roughly 3,500 affiliated sites will be able to use MSN's Video Player, and MSN will be able to sell ads to go with the content. The ads will follow the same model as those on MSN Video--one ad runs before playing, and then another after every two content pieces.

Local affiliates will be able to handle local video advertising on their site, but MSN will handle all of the national advertising for AP content played through its video player.

Herman said the deal with the Associated Press will vastly increase distribution of MSN's video player as well as its ads, especially during large news events. "When the Katrina disaster occurred, it was like Americans were praying around their computer screens. We drove around 50 million streams in four days," he said. "Being part of the Associated Press network could perhaps double that number."

Although MSN built the video player with syndication in mind, this deal marks the first time MSN has allowed another organization to utilize its video player.