AP unveils new online video platform for digital publishers

The Associated Press has launched a new online video hub that aims to make it easier for publishers to access broadcast quality video news material for their sites. The service, which launched this week as a beta version, will include breaking news content and relevant footage from the news agency's vast archive, and taps into what the agency says is a growing demand from customers for online video. AP director of video transformation Sue Brooks said in a release: "We believe AP Video Hub gives customers the ability to access broadcast-quality video news even if they don't have the technical infrastructure to handle satellite news feeds. "AP Video Hub will enable them to do this as quickly and easily as large broadcasters do already. We expect AP Video Hub customers to be online video producers for a newspaper, journalists at a regional news agency and news-centric websites." The agency said the launch was part of a bigger move to upgrade its video offering; all of AP's video news will be fully HD by the end of May and further functionality is expected to be added to the video hub shortly, ahead of a formal launch this summer. Earlier this month, the Associated Press announced a partnership with livestreaming service Bambuser which will allow users of the Bambuser app to share their content with the agency.