AP Online Video Network debuts improved player

If you check out a video clip on one of AP’s nearly 1,500 OVN affiliates, you’ll find a revamped player that looks suspiciously like MSN Video (see below). It should, as MSN is driving the technology and the advertising behind AP’s OVN. The new player features larger graphics and a “top video” tab, as well as an email sharing tool. “We now have twice as many videos in each section,” said Jessica Arnold, AP’s director of online video operations. “We’ve found that people tend to stay on the tab they entered on, so we want to surface as much content as possible on that first page.” And coming in January, AP will beta test a new feature that will allow affiliates to upload local video to their own OVN player. The new feature is scheduled to roll out nationwide in March.