AP and NDN extend online video agreement through 2017

Atlanta-based NDN currently distributes AP video content to thousands of top-ranked Web publishers, including most of the newspaper websites in the United States.  As part of the original agreement signed in 2010, NDN absorbed the operations of AP’s 1,500-member Online Video Network, and provided all AP member companies with access to NDN's hosted video platform. That platform includes content from AP and from hundreds of other premium sources. In addition to the content, NDN provides publishers with a complete video content management system, the infrastructure for serving video and a strong direct sales operation that supplies premium advertising to run with the video.

"Our relationship with AP is a game changer for the online publishing world,” said NDN’s CEO Greg Peters. “For the last four years we’ve experienced incredible growth and have enjoyed working with our counterparts at AP to expand the audience of their coverage and create innovative tools for content delivery and monetization. This renewal is a measure of the mutual success we’ve seen with AP and we are thrilled to see this continue for the next three years.”

Under the agreement, NDN will continue to power video and monetization on AP’s video.ap.org and hosted.ap.org sites.

"AP has seen impressive growth on NDN’s platform,” said Dave Gwizdowski, AP’s senior vice president for revenue for the Americas. "We set an all-time record for AP content on the NDN platform in the third quarter, nearly doubling traffic from a year ago. NDN’s capability to monetize AP’s content is a key differentiator over other platforms in the video space."

NDN’s flexible video platform and content management tools - which now includes an ability to automatically add relevant video to story pages via semantic matching - will increase the value of AP’s content beyond video, said NDN's Peters. Publishers who use the NDN tool suite to add AP and other video to their AP story pages will generate substantial advertising revenue to offset other production costs.

Gwizdowski added: “We look forward to rolling out new technology that will match AP video with AP stories for our members who use NDN. We know that when video accompanies text, this greatly improves user experience and creates a positive impact for audiences and for advertisers.”