Washingtonpost.com Is Adding Video To the iTunes Inventory

Washingtonpost.com may be the first site without a strong TV tie-in to make video available via iTunes. Unlike Disney, this is no fancy deal with Steve Jobs. Deputy multimedia editor Chet Rhodes told MediaPost no effort was made to even contact. The video podcasts are free to download and, for now, free of ads; Rhodes estimates that video would have to be downloaded at least 10,000 times before attracting advertisers.
So far, the site has posted six video podcasts (including a review of the new video iPod) ranging in length from news clips of about two minutes to short-form documentaries running nearly 10 minutes; they can be viewed or downloaded individually through iTunes or subscribed to as a video RSS feed.
Finding a way to make money from audio and video podcasts may be the ultimate goal, but some media companies view increased exposure as payment enough in the short term. In the long term, making money via advertising will take much better metrics and tracking than iTunes currently provides.

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