CNN selling historic news ‘moments’ as NFTs

CNN has followed Fox and Time Magazine into the NFT market, announcing the launch of collectible historic moments from the news.

CNN’s NFT project is dubbed “Vault by CNN: Moments That Changed Us” and includes a series of tokenized iconic moments from its 41-year history, along with a vault to purchase, store and display the NFTs.

The news organization has not revealed which specific historic moments will be tokenized, however, it noted that themes including CNN exclusives, notable firsts, world history, and presidential elections, will be covered.

The initial launch will include six weekly drops starting from late June, with CNN teasing the first drops may depict space travel and election results. The NFTs will be sold in a combination of open and limited editions.

The NFTs will be minted on the Flow blockchain, which CNN chose for its energy-efficient proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Flow is also home to NBA Top Shot, which has had huge success selling iconic sporting ‘moments’.

To purchase NFTs, users will need to sign up to CNN’s vault, where they will store their moments. Cryptocurrency is not be required to purchase, with the platform accepting credit cards via third-party payment platform Stripe. The vault’s description reads:

“Until now, there has been no way to 'collect' these moments. Users can often find old footage online, or packaged up in documentaries, but they cannot 'own' them or display them in the way they can with a print newspaper or magazine.”

CNN has also partnered with video framing firm Infinite Objects so that users will have the option of rendering their NFT onto a screen and displaying it physically offline. The vault’s description reads.

Interestingly CNN’s online archive already boasts 700,000 hours of news content that can already be purchased and downloaded without conferring 'ownership'.

Despite putting forward ownership as a value proposition of the NFTs, they note that “CNN retains copyright and ownership over the content.”

Related: Want to own an NFT of your favorite movie scene? Soon, you might be able to

A growing number of news outlets and media organizations have entered the NFT market in 2021.

CNN’s move into NFTs follows Fox Corp’s announcement of a $100 million creative fund for NFT content creation yesterday to accompany its animated tv shows.

In late March, Time Magazine entered the market with three tokenized magazine covers on SuperRare, with the “TIME Space Exploration — January 19th, 1959” generating the biggest sale of 135 Ether (ETH) worth around $318,000 at today’s prices.

Since then, Time has dropped another seven NFTs depicting magazine covers, with the “TIME First Issue — March 3, 1923” fetching 120 ETH worth roughly $283,000 in June.