AP picks thePlatform

The Associated Press announced Tuesday that it has chosen thePlatform to host its Online Video Network. Launched only two years ago in 2006, AP's Online Video Network now reaches 61 million unique visitors through its 2,100 partner sites, according to company figures. AP partnered with Microsoft for the past two years on both technology and ad sales around the online video content, but decided to change to thePlatform, a Seattle-based media publisher and Comcast subsidiary, for the technology portion after the partnership ended, according to Jane Seagrave, senior vice president of Global Product Development for AP.

"thePlatform offers extremely flexible delivery and provides the functionality our affiliate network was seeking," Seagrave said. "We expect to launch it across our sites fairly quickly, and aim to complete the rollout by December 1."

Seagrave said AP considered other options, but she declined to comment on other companies who may have been in the hunt for the juicy contract. She said thePlatform would continue to improve AP's online video offering, and her comments were echoed in released statements by AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll.

"We've been very aggressive in providing top stories and breaking news video coverage wherever it happens," Carroll said in the release. "For instance, we chased half a dozen hurricanes over Florida and the Gulf Coast and produced scores of video clips including first-person accounts, extensive raw video and live streaming. We also made available to OVN affiliates last week a never-before-seen 1973 video on the release of John McCain when he was a North Vietnam prisoner of war."

The partnership will allow AP affiliates to manage and apply business policies, syndicate video via a number of scenarios, and customize their feed to drive successfully integrated advertising, according to thePlatform's blog.

The next few weeks will be telling for the partnership's eventual success; if the changeover goes smoothly, you probably won't hear about it; if it happens to be a bust (which is unlikely), expect lots of blog chatter and Microsoft "I told you so's."

It's a huge win for thePlatform, that's for sure. 

For more:
- see the release hosted on thePlatform's site
- see thePlatform blog post 

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