AP signs new licensing deal with Yahoo in bid to bolster revenue

 

SAN FRANCISCO: The Associated Press has signed a licensing deal with Yahoo Inc that gives the news cooperative a steady stream of revenue at a time when less money is flowing in from newspapers and broadcasters.

The announcement by both firms on Monday did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement.

The AP says it is still negotiating to renew its online licensing agreements with two other companies with far deeper pockets. Google Inc and Microsoft Corp Google stopped posting fresh AP content on its website in late December.

Stung by the AP's first downturn in revenue in years, AP's management has said the cooperative needs to make more money from the online rights to its stories, photographs and video as more people flock to the Internet for information and entertainment.

It's unclear whether the AP achieved its financial objectives in the Yahoo deal.

Yahoo, described the AP as an important part of its efforts to keep its nearly 600 million worldwide users informed.

"We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with AP for many years to come," the company said in a statement. The duration of the contract wasn't disclosed. Yahoo has been posting AP content on its site since 1998.

Its Web site also relies on other services, including AP rival Reuters, as well as reporters it employs.

The formula has worked well for Yahoo, even as it has struggled in other key areas, such as Internet search and social networking. Yahoo pulls in the biggest US Internet audiences in news, sports and finance, according to the research firm comScore Inc

The not-for-profit AP finds itself at a critical juncture in its 164-year history because the Internet's popularity is draining advertising revenue from US print publication and broadcasters, which have been the AP's traditional funding sources and still account for about 40 per cent of AP's revenue combined.

The ad slump has prompted AP to cut its fees from those outlets and cut its payroll costs by 10 per cent. - AP