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Originally published on 07/08/2002
Most new technologies applied to media have had leveling effects, making content easier to access for more people. And nothing has changed media like the Internet -- although most media companies that have embraced it are still finding the finances difficult to work out.
Fast Facts:
The NewsMarket
www.thenewsmarket.com |
| CEO |
Shoba Purushothaman. Last job: CEO, US Bulletin International
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| HQ |
New York, NY
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| Founded |
January 2000
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| Employees |
10
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| Market |
News distribution
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| Funding |
Under $5M; lead in latest round: Ascend Ventures.
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| Profitable? |
Has been intermittently profitable; expecting consistent profitability in 2003
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Yet there are media technology plays that can work. For example, The NewsMarket is an online video storehouse and marketplace that's had a few quarters of profitability already.
The NewsMarket is a clearinghouse for video files, specifically the company-provided PR materials often called "B-roll." Paying customers (about 35 companies, such as Ford and Gateway) send their materials to The NewsMarket, which stores and indexes them. TV broadcasters can preview the videos online, then download files suitable for splicing into stories (The NewsMarket will also record and ship tapes). This service saves companies the hassle and expense of shipping tapes, and eases storage concerns for broadcasters.
In the future, The NewsMarket might build a marketplace for locally produced TV news segments that other broadcasters might want, or even a platform for independent videographers to get their media in front of local or national news broadcasters.
The NewsMarket is hardly the first company to attempt to build a market for media, although it's clever to focus on storing video files and distributing them via the Web, avoiding the video streaming business.
Best of all, the company isn't trying to extract money for a radical new concept. Corporations already pay to distribute video, and it's a slow, analog process; The NewsMarket improves distribution speed and lowers costs for all parties. Furthermore, the company's paying customers tend to subsidize accessibility of materials to players in secondary markets (small or overseas newsrooms) that otherwise wouldn't be on the distribution lists for expensive videotapes.
- Rafe Needleman
email: rafe-needleman@catchoday.com
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