Citizen journalist site Scoopshot has signed content licensing deals with eight major media companies in the USA, Germany, Turkey, France, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands.
With demand for citizen photography growing, Scoopshot has signed agreements with Hürriyet, Turkey’s highest circulation newspaper, 20Minutes, France’s most-read daily, and Der Tagesspiegel, a leading Germany daily.
The agreements will give journalists instant access to a live stream of authenticated eyewitness photos and video, and the ability to set location-based tasks, when specific photos are needed.
Elsewhere, Scoopshot has signed agreements with Die Kronen Zeitung in Austria, MTV3 in Finland, and DJMAG in the Netherlands, and is currently in discussion with a number of major media companies in the UK and the US.
Today’s announcement follows recent agreements with Germany’s biggest regional newspaper WAZ (West Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) and with the innovative content provider Ebyline. The agreement is the company’s first in the US and will see Ebyline leverage Scoopshot’s constantly growing, global network of mobile photographers with Ebyline’s impressive capacity to provide quality written material for publication.
In addition, Scoopshot recently announced a revised photo price structure, starting at $5 USD per photo, which offers an alternative for generating authentic, unique, relevant, hyperlocal and global content.
“Citizen photography is a powerful tool for the media, but sourcing and authenticating user generated content is not easy, but Scoopshot’s patent pending technology provides the answers” says Niko Ruokosuo, CEO of Scoopshot. “We’re seeing a real hunger for a solution that will provide authenticated eyewitness photos and video on demand. Today’s announcement shows that media companies worldwide recognise the value Scoopshot offers.”
With several new deals announced this year, Scoopshot’s community of mobile photographers is continuing to grow. Recently, Scoopshot saw an increase of 50,000 mobile subscribers in a two-day period after a German television station reported on its powerful UGC ecosystem. The Finnish company has more than 270,000 mobile users around the world and is expected to reach one million users in the next 12 months.