AP Considering Charging News Outlets for Exclusives

If OK! magazine will pay $500,000 for the rights to run Michael Jackson‘s death photo, The Associated Press, it seems, is no longer content sitting on the sidelines when it could be charging for access to the premium content it produces.

No specific details have been announced yet, but the AP is “considering whether to sell news stories to some online customers exclusively for a certain period, perhaps half an hour,” according to a report on AP chief executive Tom Curley‘s remarks at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club yesterday. “…products can be reserved, and there can be exclusives given, perhaps on a time-base measure. Those who get access to that content and the rich multimedia or metadata that comes with it might get an exclusive for, oh, 20 or 30 minutes,” he said.

Keith Trivitt, account executive at RLM Public Relations said, “In a 24/7 news cycle where people can get information instantly, the AP idea seems absurd.” David Teicher, Social Media Manager & Strategist at McCann-Erickson NY thinks it’s an interesting approach. “They need to generate additional revenue somehow, he said, but added, “This system would work better with exclusives or the not time sensitive stories. Not breaking news.”

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