Outsourcing till now has been synonymous with call centre and technology jobs. But it is journalism now which is fast catching the fancy of offshorers.

Outsourcing of press release, writing, editing and designing newsletters is the new area opening up and from freelancers to big media companies, everyone wants to grab the opportunity.

"At the moment, we are just seeing the start of this market area. However, as the outsourcing model matures in the media segment, there will be more of this. This approach has already been proven in the financial services sector, where a significant amount of research and report generation is being done in India," says Kevin R English, senior vice president, Media & Entertainment, Satyam Computer Services [Get Quote].

"I would expect over the next two to three years that media companies will begin to adopt a similar approach for some of its content creation and aggregation," English told PTI in an e-mail from the US.

Chillibreeze, a content service provider says it is already writing company profiles for British clients, generating business content for a newsletter targeted at CEOs, enhancing

Power Point presentations for an American consulting firm, writing, fine tuning and reviewing medical research papers for US-based scientists and creating a series of health news and tips articles for a Canadian client.

It is also developing content for a book on religion for an American client and developing/editing content for a Technical Book, it says on its website.

"American, Australian and British media companies seem to be the first to explore this market area. They are already adopting an off-shore outsourcing model, and the English

language affinity makes India a natural location for these types of services," he says, noting "already we have seen clients move up the business chain from application support to content management, and are beginning to express an interest in exploring editorial support"

Agrees Rosemary George, of Bangalore-based Flatworldsolutions, "most of the work we are doing is for American and British clients and which deals with press release writing, making newsletters and article submissions."

"There is no dearth of skilled manpower in this area. India has a large pool of writers and the work today is being taken both by freelancers and specialised media companies," she says.

On benefits of outsourcing to India, another content provider says "Research at lower costs;  Shorter time to develop content because more people can be put on the task and top-quality documentation at a lower cost -- The academic levels of our writers is very high and they include PhDs, MDs, MBAs etc.

"Indian writers are well informed and able to write on many subjects. Indians excel in scientific, medical, technical and cultural writing," it says on its website.

As of today, these foreign media houses come to know of Indian companies through search engines and content on the Internet. There is no other marketing being done as not many people know about it, says George.

However, over the next several years, this will become a focus area for media companies, particularly those that aggregate and disseminate large amounts of information," says English noting as demand for this type of service grows, specialised groups within companies will come up.

Are you working at a BPO, or planning to work at one? Join the BPO Discussion Group