Bringing Focus to MSN’s
How Filter upleveled the global portal’s professional photo newsroom with a scalable, streamlined solution
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The Challenge
With nearly 750 million visits per month, MSN is one of the top five news and media portals in the world. Users are drawn to the site not only for its meaningful and entertaining stories, but also for the compelling images that bring those stories to life.
MSN’s photo editing team was struggling to source and optimize these images at the break-neck pace of the global news cycle – all while meeting a demanding (and evolving) set of requirements for image quality, sizing, licensing, and reader engagement. MSN needed to augment its photo editing capacity to handle this intense workload, but they didn’t want to assemble a full-time team or assign the work to an expensive agency.
Our Approach
To solve this challenge, Filter built a 24/7 newsroom team of top-tier photo editors to support national, world, and breaking news. With photojournalism experience at publications like Time, National Geographic and The Washington Post, the Filterati brought to the program not just the technical mastery but also the news savvy to find and showcase the perfect images for each story. This scalable team worked alternating shifts in New York and Seattle, operating under tight deadlines to license, size, and optimize images for all of MSN’s channel partners.
Filter also designed a highly efficient workflow that streamlined the acquisition and processing of images, enabling us to source roughly 12,000 images per month via providers such as AP, Reuters, Getty and USA Today. For images that were automatically uploaded and cropped via MSN’s content management system, the Filter team frequently added slide shows and photo collections designed to improve user experience.
The Impact
Filter’s customized program facilitated a 36% reduction in cost-per-image and a 25% increase in overall productivity over time. Our team played an integral role in supporting this world-class news operation, increasing productivity while meeting MSN’s rigorous standards for photo quality.
SNAPSHOT
Client
MSN
Challenges
MSN's photo editing team was struggling to source and optimize news-related images at the pace needed
Solutions
• Provided a scalable team of photo editors to add capacity to MSN's photo team
• Developed a more efficient content management workflow to increase team productivity
• Developed a more efficient content management workflow to increase team productivity
Highlights
Filter's team of consultants faciliated a 36% reduction in cost-per-image and a 25% increase in overall productivity over time
“Over the years, the team has contracted and expanded as our business needs change. I have always been impressed with the people Filter hires – high-caliber professionals, a sense of humor to get through crazy shifts in the newsroom, and limitless creativity. MSN has had a long and positive experience working with an outsourced team managed by Filter.”
– Kathy Henwood, Content Project Manager, Microsoft
