Press Association and Associated Press join forces with video content deal




The Associated Press has signed a landmark distribution deal with the Press Association which will see PA’s UK video news footage integrated into AP’s extensive video archive.

The agreement will dramatically extend the reach of PA’s video footage beyond the UK, and will significantly bolster the UK news element of AP’s video offering.

From today, AP’s archive customers are able to access over 18,000 archived UK video news, entertainment and sports stories, amounting to 35,000 minutes of PA’s video footage. New PA content will continue to be added on a daily basis with around 15 new stories being added each day. The PA stories supplied to AP have been specifically designed as `archive-friendly` compilations of the rushes from which the story was created. Fully shotlisted, the stories provide customers with longer sequences and greater depth than the tightly edited packages offered by other suppliers.

The deal also heralds a breakthrough in the speed with which video content can be accessed by archive clients. PA’s footage will be available on AP’s archive website www.aparchive.com on the day of filming and can be easily accessed via AP. This contrasts sharply with competitor commercial archives where there is usually a time lag of several days before new content becomes available. This provides AP with a considerable edge in a market that is increasingly driven by speed.

The Press Association has ramped up its production of video news in recent years and launched its own video portal for UK clients in 2010. As well as investing in a team of dedicated video journalists, PA has instigated a training programme to “multi-skill” its news reporters and now has over 60 journalists covering news events in words, pictures and video.

Tony Watson, Managing Director, Press Association, commented: “In recent years PA has worked hard to increase its video content output, and this has proved popular with newspapers and broadcasters alike.
By integrating our high quality UK video news into AP’s video portal we are not only increasing our potential client base, but we are able to offer UK video news to global clients quicker than ever before.”

AP’s director of international archives, Alwyn Lindsey added, “PA is now a significant force in UK video newsgathering and the addition of PA’s video to AP’s offering provides customers with a fast, fresh and cost-effective alternative in the market. The PA video packages supplied to AP have been configured specifically with archive customers in mind, which is a unique approach and one that we expect to be very popular.”


About the Press Association
The Press Association is the national news agency for the UK and Ireland, providing a continuous feed of text, pictures, video and data into newsrooms around the country.

At the heart of the media industry, the Press Association supplies services to every national and regional daily newspaper, broadcasters, online publishers and a wide range of commercial organisations.

Founded in 1868, the Press Association has an unrivalled reputation for providing fast, fair and accurate information

The Press Association is part of PA Group Limited, a private company with 27 shareholders, most of whom are national and regional newspaper publishers. The biggest shareholders are Associated Newspaper Holdings Limited, News International plc, Trinity Mirror plc and United Business Media plc.


About AP Archive
AP Archive is the video footage collection of The Associated Press, with material dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. With an archive of over 700,000 stories, it is rich in its coverage of events, war and conflict, politics, disasters, environment, culture, social history, human interest, science, entertainment and sport. The collection, updated daily with the global news coverage of AP Television News, and contains footage from many major content partners including ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and China State Television. AP Archive’s website is located at www.aparchive.com.

About The AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world’s population sees news from AP. On the Net: www.ap.org



For more information, contact Sophie Toumazis or Suzie Schilling at tpr media:
sophie@tpr-media.com; suzie@tpr-media.com; +44 (0) 20 8347 7020

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