Helsingin Sanomat to collaborate with Microsoft

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Helsingin Sanomat and Microsoft have signed a contract on an extensive web content cooperation project. In the future Helsingin Sanomat will produce news and entertainment content for the Microsoft Finland web site.
      The MSN.fi portal, which recently renewed its content outlook, is the busiest web-based news and information services provider in Finland, with 850,000 weekly visits to the site. Starting from Wednesday, the front page of the MSN.fi site includes a news and entertainment section provided by Helsingin Sanomat.
     
The paper's own HS.fi service, which provides free daily news articles in a concise form including this International Edition section, is visited by about 650,000 people on a weekly basis, a number that is rapidly growing. The Microsoft cooperation will significantly add to this figure.
      "We have purposefully developed our electronic services as part of the HS strategy. The cooperation contract with Microsoft provides us with a terrific opportunity to further develop our Net-based services", explains Helsingin Sanomat editor in chief Reetta Meriläinen.
      According to Meriläinen, the cooperation with MSN.fi provides Helsingin Sanomat with a window to access consumer groups that do not necessarily read traditional newspapers, such as the younger Internet users, the so-called "Messenger generation". It is claimed that as many as 1.2 million people in Finland use or have used the MS Messenger or Windows Live Messenger instant messaging client, and that 850,000 actively make use of a Hotmail e-mail account.
      Both Microsoft and Helsingin Sanomat have refrained from commenting on the monetary value of the deal.


Links:
  MSN.fi (in Finnish)

Helsingin Sanomat