Scripps acquires Newsy to help it enter digital video business

CINCINNATI, USA: The E.W. Scripps Company has acquired digital video news provider, Newsy, a five-year-old start-up that has built its early success on a multi-source, multi-platform approach to storytelling.

Rich Boehne, chairman, president and CEO, Scripps, said: "Newsy's uncommon approach to curation and storytelling has helped it build a strong national brand, which fits well with both our current media assets and our ambitions to further develop digital media businesses.

"This acquisition fits our digital strategy to run a national news brand that both enhances our local content offerings and gives us more access to the fast-growing digital news audiences and revenues on national platforms."

Newsy produces and curates video news reports for web, mobile, tablet and connected TV, allowing its audience easy access to a variety of news and information sources. Its revenue comes from advertising on its digital products; selling news and original content to major digital journalism brands that include AOL/Huffington Post, Microsoft and Mashable; and syndicating its content.

Newsy will become an important news source on the Scripps digital products in local markets across the country, and will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Scripps.

Scripps has entered into an agreement to buy Newsy and will pay $35 million in cash for the growing brand. The deal is expected to close on the first of January.

Newsy founder and CEO Jim Spencer says Scripps shares the Newsy mission to provide value to audiences by informing, engaging and empowering the communities and audiences they serve.

He said: "Leveraging the power of Scripps and Newsy together means reaching more consumers with the quality journalism they expect on a larger variety of platforms. We are proud to be joining with Scripps, which shares our values of innovation and editorial integrity."