Earlier this Spring, YouTube unveiled a push into news video by offering a new local feature that offers an online outlet for local news stations, local newspapers, radio stations and even some college sources and has dubbed this new feature “News Near You“. This new feature uses the Internet address of a visitor’s PC to determine the user’s location and whether any partners are located within a 100-mile radius.

The New York Times (NYT) reports that earlier this summer, YouTube “invited more than 25,000 news sources listed on Google News to become video suppliers. The site is also promoting videos from ABC News, The Associated Press, Reuters and other outlets. This year, it began featuring breaking news videos — including ones submitted by citizens in Iran, where protests are being captured by cellphone users — on its home page”.

NYT also reports that  “to date, nearly 200 news outlets have signed up with YouTube to post news packages and split the revenue from the advertisements that appear with them. In addition, Google searches now show YouTube videos alongside news articles, helping the videos reach a wider audience. But news media companies may have reasons to be wary. Few TV stations have figured out how replicate profits on the Internet. YouTube can easily act as another competitor”.

It will be interesting to see if these local videos will be watched and more importantly will the local news outlets be able to profit from “News Near You”!

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