Newsy, a Columbia, Mo.-based news service, today announced a long-term relationship with MSN News.
In the middle of Missouri, paired with one of the top-rated journalism programs in the country, Newsy has quietly fostered big-league media relationships to share its multi-source video news service. Today, the Columbia, Mo.-based startup announced a long-term relationship with MSN News to collaboratively produce up to 20 videos per day for the network.
Editorial teams from both companies will work together to brainstorm stories, improvise and create the concise video packages Newsy has been refining for almost five years—it was founded in September 2008 though a partnership with the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Its online and mobile videos present a variety of media perspectives on stories, which are then used to create original content condensed to clips that usually run no longer than two minutes (see example below). Newsy-produced topics on MSN include breaking news, politics, entertainment, crime, tech and science.
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This announcement isn’t groundbreaking for Newsy, rather a continuation of its growth. Its team of 33 full-time and 29 part-time employees—now also in Chicago and Los Angeles—already produces more than 200 videos per week for AOL/Huffington Post, National Journal and Mashable. What it does provide, president and founder Jim Spencer (below) told Silicon Prairie News, is reinforcement for its model of multiple revenue streams.
“There’s an extraordinarily strong advertiser demand for high-quality online video news and we’re here to fill that demand,” he said.
He believes the company’s been able to forge and maintain the relationships they have because of the cohesion between its newsroom and other newsrooms, its ability to adjust to new mobile hardware and software, and its ability to scale for the demands of each project. Across all platforms, more than 125 million people view its content each month.
Spencer said the company hasn’t raised any more funds beyond its $4.25 million as of 2011, and has no plans to pursue additional investment. Instead, it’s all about “really driving the Newsy brand and products into the marketplace,” he said.
Terms of the relationship between Newsy and MSN News were not disclosed.
Here’s an example of a Newsy video as it appears on its own website:
Credits: Photo from Newsy press release.
