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Demand Media Offering Health Care Benefits To Freelancers

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the new media venture of former MySpace chairman Richard Rosenblatt, said today that it has just published its one millionth piece of original content, and is launching an effort to extend health care benefits to freelancers creating that content for the firm. The firm claims that it is now one of the largest producers of content on the Web, distributing that to an audience of more than 80 million people. According to Demand Media, it now has more than 6,000 freelancers creating content for the company's network of sites via its Demand Studios arm. Demand said it will start offering health care options to active, "tenured" writers working for the firm as of November 1st. Demand Media did not detail the extent of the health care benefits, but said that it will be offering freelancers a volume discount on health care options, and expects to be able to offer health care coverage for half the cost of what a freelancer might be able to get as an individual. Demand uses freelancers to write how-to articles, produce videos, and other content to attract Internet traffic to its web sites.