The AP annual meeting is a regular feature of the NAA, the theory being that most of the publishers and execs attending have a reason to be at both. A large part of the session went to remarks and q-and-a by satellite with U.S. Army General David H. Petraeus in Iraq — newsmakers also are part of the tradition — but Tom Curley, president of the AP, got in a few words as did outgoing chairman Burl Osborne.
Curley said digital will account for nearly 20 percent of the AP’s revenue this year; that’s up from 13-14 percent. Incoming chairman William Dean Singleton told me later most of the digital revenue comes from non-AP members. (One of the best lines from Curley: “Dean not only believes in newspapers, he’s still buying them at a premium.”)
More from Curley: AP has agreed to freeze basic assessments for domestic members and to present to the board by 2009 a plan that will allow members to better tailor services to their own needs instead of the three sizes fits all currently used.
— AP is rolling out more tools and services — AP 2.0 — for clients to improve their own web presence and syndication. A site in beta is designed to help make their own content easier to find online; the beta group will be expanded throughout the year with launch in early 2008.
— AP will offer customized multimedia search and an enhanced video player for uplaoding.
— More than 1,000 newspapers are part of AP’s online video network.
— AP will digitize, host and share revenues from 250 photos of member’s choice.
More details from AP’s Seth Sutel.
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