NPR: Digital Distribution Strategy

Daniel Jacobson, Director of Application Development

Jeremy Pennycook, Operations Manager for Mobile

July 23, 2010

Page View Growth: NPR.org vs. NPR Mobile

NPR News iPhone app

NPR News Android app

Relaunched NPRmobile site

NPRiPad app

NPR MusiciPhone app

API launchedin 2008, at

OSCON

Architectural Philosophies COPE (Create Once Publish Everywhere)

- COPE drives all other architectural decisions

Build Content Management tools, not Web Publishing tools

- Separate content/data from display/presentation

- Make sure that content is modular/portable

Understand the Atom

- Story is the Atom for NPR

- Stories contain ‘Assets’ (ie. text, audio, video, images, etc.)

- Stories belong to ‘Lists’

Know When to Build and When to Integrate

- Core systems built and/or managed internally

- Other systems depend on cost/benefit

- When possible, use open source solutions

It is better to be incomplete than inaccurate

System Architecture Supporting COPE

System Architecture Supporting COPE

System Architecture Supporting COPE

JavaJSP

Struts

System Architecture Supporting COPE

R / WMySQL

System Architecture Supporting COPE

R / OMySQLCluster

NoSQL-likeXML

Repository

System Architecture Supporting COPE

PHP5

SimpleXMLPHP5

Distribution of API Usage by Application

PLAYLISTAPI

Distribution of API Usage by Application

Raw data and content is stored in the normalized databases and is made available to APIs through the flattened Infrastructural API.

Distribution of API Usage by Application

Core APIs contain the clean API content, closely resembling the data model.

PLAYLISTAPI

PLAYLISTAPI

Distribution of API Usage by Application

Wrapper APIs are custom-built interfaces that serve the needs of a given presentation layer. The wrappers can transform API content, pull from multiple APIs and tailor the queries to the abilities of the calling application.

Distribution of API Usage by Application

PLAYLISTAPI

Presentation applications can take advantage of the Core APIs directly or they can have a custom Wrapper API built, depending on the needs of the application.

Inside the Black Box of the API

NPR’s Target Audiences for the API Ourselves

- Supports the entire infrastructure of our new site

- Improvements to CMS to enable custom feeds by Editorial and Design

Stations- Enables us to serve content to our member stations more easily

- Enables our stations to serve their communities better

Partners- Creates new opportunities because - easy to implement with very

little integration cost

- Makes existing opportunities easier to maintain and grow

Public- Engages the community – part of NPR’s Public Service Mission

- Lots of great widgets, tools, sites built using the API

NPR’s Target Audiences for the API Ourselves

- Supports the entire infrastructure of our new site

- Improvements to CMS to enable custom feeds by Editorial and Design

Stations- Enables us to serve content to our member stations more easily

- Enables our stations to serve their communities better

Partners- Creates new opportunities because - easy to implement with very

little integration cost

- Makes existing opportunities easier to maintain and grow

Public- Engages the community – part of NPR’s Public Service Mission

- Lots of great widgets, tools, sites built using the API

Launch Expectations:Improve development efficiencies for NPR.org

Some sophisticated stations will use the API

Partner integration will be easier

The public will do amazing things with the API

Lifecycle of an NPR storyCOPE in the wild

NPR CMS

NPR API

NPR.org

NPR iPad/Tablet Site

NPR.org Audio Player

NPR iPhone App

NPR Mobile Site

NPR Android App

NPR Addict iPhone App

NewsMap

Google Chrome Extension

iGoogle Gadget

KQED.org

NorthCountryPublicRadio.org

KPCC.org

WBUR.org

Metrics

NPR Story API : Requests per Month

- About 20 requests to the Story API every

second

- NPR API delivers almost 400 stories every second

Slide provided by John Musser of ProgrammableWeb

API Keys and Consumption by Audience

NPR’s Target Audiences for the API Ourselves

- Supports the entire infrastructure of our new site

- Improvements to CMS to enable custom feeds by Editorial and Design

Stations- Enables us to serve content to our member stations more easily

- Enables our stations to serve their communities better

Partners- Creates new opportunities because - easy to implement with very

little integration cost

- Makes existing opportunities easier to maintain and grow

Public- Engages the community – part of NPR’s Public Service Mission

- Lots of great widgets, tools, sites built using the API

Launch Expectations:Improvements to development efficiencies for NPR.org

Some sophisticated stations will use the API

Partner integration will be easier

The public will do amazing things with the API

Actual Results:NPR dramatically improved development efficiencies

NPR’s mobile strategy took off

Some sophisticated stations have used the API

Partner integration has been easier

API has facilitated business development opportunities

The public has done some interesting things

Output Format Distribution

This distribution chart is from June 2009 and does not include NPR consumption.

We believe the distribution still applies today.

NPR API : Non-NPRML Output Format Growth

Writable Story API

Station/Partner Ingest

Station Content in the NPR API (today)

KLCC Displaying N3 Stories from NPR API

WBUR Displaying N3 Story from NPR API

Public Media API (future)

API Enables Mobile Growth…

Mobile

The NPR API Powers Mobile Products

The Numbers

Different Modes of Development

Why Open Source?

Why Android?

Our Project

NPR News 2.0 for Android

Join Our Community

@nprandroid

Questions?

To see the API: http://www.npr.org/api

To follow the API development: http://www.npr.org/blogs/inside

To see the NPR News Android app code: http://code.google.com/p/npr-android-app/

Daniel Jacobson

djacobson@npr.org

Twitter: @daniel_jacobson

Jeremy Pennycook

jpennycook@npr.org

Twitter: @tehpennycook