Reuters deals aim at 'best-in-class' content

They will “enable us to bring our customers more comprehensive, more accurate, and faster news and insights” in multimedia and news coverage of the Sochi winter Olympics and results of next November’s US elections, the company says.

In 2012, Reuters and The New York Times ran a pilot service that provided digital customers with an integrated package of news, text, graphics, photos and data from the summer Olympics in London. Feedback was positive, leading to the latest offering of a full service for the Sochi games.

Alphonse Hardel, director of market development and partnerships at Reuters, said the association with a well-known brand during a major event was an opportunity to increase Reuters’ digital publishing footprint. The collaboration is what he calls a meeting of complementary assets – the Times’ reputation for producing compelling graphics, high-quality news features and photography – meaning that customers are presented with a one-stop shop for all their needs: editorial content, results data and digital presentation.

“This collaboration will help our customers overcome the complex content challenges presented by a sporting event consisting of 2,500 athletes competing in more than 15 different winter sports, ensuring the best multimedia coverage of one of the most exciting sporting events of the year,” Reuters said.

The Reuters U.S. Election Service will employ the latest data capture and delivery tools to improve on decades-old processes used to record election results, with a goal of offering a product that is better, faster and more affordable.

Maurice Tamman, editor-in-charge of data and computational journalism at Reuters, calls it “a remarkable platform, which allows us to constantly take the pulse of the American public. No other news organization can touch Reuters’ depth and breadth of social research”.

The election results package will be in partnership with Ipsos, which produced exit polling for Reuters during the 2012 presidential election. The Ipsos/Reuters poll was ranked among the top polls for predictive accuracy by Fordham University’s Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy. Tamman recounts, “We took a risk by refusing to follow the tired and flawed techniques employed by telephone pollsters. And we were vindicated after the votes were counted.”

Following that success, the polling partnership evolved, creating a daily polling service, the Reuters Polling Explorer which now polls Americans on hundreds of topics – from immigration law to who should win the Oscar for best actress.

Reuters and Ipsos will be delivering live election results for the entire country for the 2014 elections, something Bo Rosser, head of data products for Reuters, describes as “a sea change in election results reporting. It’s truly transformational and historic.” ■