The installation of encrypted digital tokens is taking hold in the media landscape. The 24-hour news channel CNN announced on Wednesday that it would launch its own platform for selling
"moments"
, in the form of NFT, taken from its past reports. At the rate of six sales per week, the group intends to bring to the market
"key historical moments, organized around specific themes, in particular the first CNN exclusives, world history and the presidential elections"
, the channel said in a statement.
Unlike other platforms, the acquisition of these future NFTs from CNN will not however mark a transfer of ownership of the images, the media said.
If collectors are present, this platform could nicely round off the group's ends of the month: in March, a simple
New York Times article
put up for sale in NFT had thus brought in 560,000 dollars to the American daily.
Also read: New York Times columnist sells digital article for $ 560,000
The American giant's initiative is based on the enthusiasm generated by the market for these non-fungible tokens
(“non-fungible tokens”
, or NFT), which has grown exponentially since the start of the year. A tamper-proof digital authentication system designed using
blockchain technology
, the NFT was very successful in the sports collectibles sector before being adopted by the behemoths of the market. of art, like Christie's and Sotheby's. In February, the sale of
"moments"
strong sportsmen of the American Basketball League had already generated more than 230 million in profits for the NBA, the issuer of these official clips, while in March, the sale for 69.3 million dollars of a digital work propelled its creator - the American Beeple - among the richest living artists in the world.
A hybrid system
Adapted to the catalog and CNN archives, the upcoming NFT offer should allow everyone to acquire a historical moment broadcast, at one time or another, on the American channel launched in 1980: de la chute du Berlin Wall to images of the Gulf War, including - presumably - 9/11. While waiting to know which
"moments"
will be selected for its first sales, CNN clarified that the system set up on its platform will allow the purchase of NFTs with a normal credit card, rather than with a cryptocurrency, like this is normally the case with this technology. As for environmental objections, the chain specified that its NFTs will be created on the
"blockchain"
Flow - also used by the NBA -, which is presented as being less energy consuming than competing systems.
This is not the first time that a media has taken an interest in this new technology. Apart from the experiment conducted in March by the
New York Times,
Fox - CNN's historic competitor - is also preparing to enter the dance at the NFT despite the very sharp decline in the volume of transactions since April. The group announced on Tuesday that it had invested $ 100 million to embark on this new sector of the collection of digital objects. In France, media like Numerama also tried it in April for a result less lucrative than expected - the editorial staff had lost 150 euros in this
"experiment"
. The launch of CNN's NFT platform is expected
"by the end of June"
.
