Associated Press offers simultaneous live video feeds to news websites

The Associated Press, the US-based news agency, has expanded its video services in response to growing demand by media outlets.

It will enable its customers - meaning, in the main, American newspaper websites - to stream more than one live event at a time.

In a press release announcing the initiative, AP says it has seen a huge increase in demand for its video hub service since its launch in 2012.

It reports that in the fourth quarter of 2013 the platform delivered 39 live events. By the fourth quarter of 2014 that had risen to 125 live events.

The increase is hardly a surprise, confirming that streamed live content drives more traffic to news website, thereby significantly increasing the time people spend on the site.

Aside from simultaneous streaming, AP is pledging to provide more content and also to focus on video as “a primary story-telling tool”.

The agency says it will cover more regional interest stories, from papal visits to US politics and EU summits; more technology events, including all the key annual shows; as well as more entertainment, culture and lifestyle content.

Sue Brooks, AP’s director of international products and platforms, says: “Live is starting to play a larger role within our customer’s editorial strategy and they want to include more of it in their site’s content”.

AP launched a live news service in 2003 in its coverage of the invasion of Iraq. But it was a very different event, says Brooks, that put the service on the map.

“Live really came into its own in 2013 ahead of the birth of Prince George, when we streamed a shot of the hospital’s front door to many of the UK’s online newspaper sites who saw terrific traffic and engagement,” she says.

Other successful events have included the Oscar Pistorius trial, the Hong Kong protests and coverage of the conflict between Isis and the Kurds over Kobane.