YouTube’s “News Near You” service has signed deals with 200 local media outlets to post their videos, according to reporting in The New York Times. The Google-owned company will share ad revenue with these outlets, whose numbers are likely to increase. More than 25,000 news sources have been invited to participate.

The idea behind News Near You is to present “local” news by searching for media partners within 100 miles of a computer’s hosted IP address. As more local content fills the pipeline, that radius will narrow. Amateur videos may also be added.

News Near You presents a double-edged sword for local media publishers, which must weigh the benefits of publishing their content on YouTube and splitting ad revenues, versus trying to drive more traffic to their own sites. Currently, many local (and national for that matter) media companies split the difference by posting some content on YouTube to cross-promote their brand and drive traffic to their site, while earning some revenues with YouTube.

No Comment