Is It Worth It To Add News and Video Feeds Like The AP To A Website?

April 17, 2007 12:37 AM

What does it cost to add the Associated Press, or their Youth Oriented Feeds to a website, does it include videos, and is it worth it?

Information is pretty easy to access these days on the web, but do people think it's worthwhile to carry a news feed from the AP? Keeping in mind the recent video surge on the web, are there any good reasonable news sources pricewise, and are they worth paying for? As a reader, do you care whether the full story is there, or are you happy with the headline and a link?

posted by DudeAsInCool to media & arts (5 answers total)

The marginal value to me of one more website carrying AP stories is pretty much zero. (Then again, the marginal value to me of one more website with AP headlines is also pretty much zero, so it might help to describe what the site is.)
posted by mendel at 4:25 AM on April 17, 2007

There are lots of organizations playing AP feeds these days and more add every week. I agree with Mendel that it's really overrated unless you are adding to the AP's own wire with your own work.

Can you be specific about your website without self-linking? I am guessing it's teen or youth-oriented. But, what is your readership?

The problem is that the AP's own feeds are really aimed to be read by people outside of your own development population.

Do some better research? Have you looked into what the folks at the new Boston Now freesheet are doing with bloggers?
posted by parmanparman at 7:29 AM on April 17, 2007

Why not just add an rss feed of a google news search? Same news, more sources, less money.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:37 AM on April 17, 2007

2nd Blue Beetle. If you want to do this, do it for free via RSS. My only comment is that real estate on webpages is limited and valuable. Unless the feeds include information that you deem important to push to your customers or information that would attract more potential visitors, I wouldn't waste the space.
posted by phixed at 8:12 AM on April 17, 2007

Sounds like incorporating RSS feeds could work if programmed correctly. I will checkout Boston Now and thanks for the feedback - you just confirmed my initial thoughts that it would be a waste of money.
posted by DudeAsInCool at 9:18 AM on April 17, 2007