Voxant, the Viral Syndication Network officially launched its online news hub, TheNewsRoom, channeling licensed content from 165 news organizations.
The site -- which has been acquiring content since November -- features an advertising-based revenue model to pay content providers and participating Web sites and blogs.
Among the first organizations to sign on were AP, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, The Denver Post, GulfCoastNews.com and World Championship Sports Network.
“In TheNewsRoom, Web publishers and bloggers use our viral mashing technology to get free, licensed news video, text, photo and audio content and legally embed it on their sites, avoiding the copyright-infringement hassles they often encounter elsewhere,” Voxant CEO Jeff Crigler said.
“With Campaign2008, we're providing campaigns with the same viral mashing technology and the ability to track, control and target their content,” he added.
Campaign2008 will be a channel in TheNewsRoom dedicated to streaming campaign videos and news regarding the 2008 U.S. presidential race. TheNewsRoom allows providers to block their videos from being viewed on undesirable Web sites, as well as to monitor distribution of their videos to track viewer locations and frequencies. Crigler plans to demonstrate Campaign2008 at the 14th Annual Politics Online Conference Thursday and Friday in Washington, D.C.
“We've been signing content deals and doing business, but without actively promoting or driving traffic to TheNewsRoom,” Crigler said. “Yet we already have more than 1,600 Web sites and blogs signed up to mash our news stories and feeds, with the three largest sites accounting for a combined total of more than 25 million unique visitors per month. We currently have over 150,000 news stories available for distribution and are adding more every day.”
Upcoming additions to TheNewsRoom will include news feeds that can be customized by source and topic; self-service content uploads allowing journalists to submit news to the site; images from Getty Images and World Picture News; and previously unannounced providers such as Investor's Business Daily, Vibe and Vixen magazines, eTurboNews, WeatherBug and MilitarySpot.com.
