Teams Up with Top Hollywood Talent –Tom Hanks and Anthony Zuiker
Announces New Project from Creators of ‘Rock of Ages’ and Third Slate of Original Programming for Men
ABC’s Ben Sherwood Announces a New Katie Couric Program as Part of Yahoo! News/ABC News Premier Media Partnership
NEW YORK – Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, showcased a stellar line-up of original video for its monthly global audience of 700 million users at its Digital Content NewFront event today in New York City. Top Hollywood talent and industry leaders such as Tom Hanks, Anthony Zuiker, Ben Sherwood (ABC News), Bob Bowman (MLB), Ken Marino, Fabio Vivani (Top Chef) in addition to surprise guests, took part in Yahoo!’s event.
A trailblazer in original video programming online and #1 in Finance, News, Sports and Entertainment-News*, Yahoo! highlighted existing offerings and unveiled a number of new projects, covering a variety of topics – from sports to fashion to relationships – and featuring unique voices, hosts, and creative talent. The new projects include:
- From the creators of “Rock of Ages,” Matthew Weaver and Chris D’Arienzo introduce working title, “Dancing With Myself,” a musical “jukebox” comedy, produced by Matthew Weaver and RelativityREAL, featuring classic 80’s pop songs;
- Introduction of the company’s third slate of original video programming targeted at men, with six shows, including a talk show in development with Jeff Goldblum, “Stunt Nation,” with host Sal Masekela, demolition program “KaBOOM,” and daily show “The MANual”;
- The premiere of Katie Couric’s new web show on May 1, “Katie’s Take.” Each week, Couric will explore topics and issues that matter most to her viewers – including health, nutrition, parenting, and wellness. Every episode will feature interviews with top experts in a variety of fields as well as Couric’s own personal, fun and unique perspective. Poland Spring Natural Spring Water is the exclusive launch sponsor of this series which will be featured on a dedicated page on Yahoo!.
At the NewFront, Yahoo! highlighted what makes it unique among web distributors: Premium content, programming and curation, exclusive experiences, leading content verticals and the scale that only its global audience can bring.
As part of the premier news and information alliance between ABC News and Yahoo! News, Ben Sherwood was on hand to discuss the success of the partnership to date and announce “Katie’s Take,” a weekly online-only video program hosted by Katie Couric and only on Yahoo! News, with a focus on health and lifestyle trends and issues. Yahoo! walked through its groundbreaking 2012 election coverage, anchored by “Remake America,” a weekly video docu-series that follows the lives of six families as they strive to get back on track towards achieving the American dream. Yahoo!’s leading news video also features “Power Players,” a daily political series produced in conjunction with ABC News, featuring George Stephanopoulos, Jake Tapper, Jonathan Karl, John Berman, Amy Walter, Rick Klein, and Yahoo!’s Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian.
Yahoo! covered its journalistic excellence in Finance, with over 40 million unique visitors a month (comScore Media Metrix, US March 2012) coming to Yahoo! Finance for financial news and information, and more viewers watching Yahoo!’s original video programming “The Daily Ticker” and “Breakout” than any other business/financial show online or on cable television. Yahoo!’s leadership continues in sports, the No. 1 sports site online, with nearly 55 million unique monthly visitors (comScore Media Metrix, US January 2012) and is No. 1 in fantasy**. Yahoo! Sports has a standard of uncompromised investigative journalism—resulting in an impressive number of industry-shaping stories broken by Yahoo! journalists in 2012, from the Syracuse men’s basketball team scandal to a specific part of the New Orleans Saints bounty violations.
Yahoo!’s video franchises are programmed in the context of its leading media verticals, as well as in its premium video destination, Yahoo! Screen. The programs announced today complement an already robust video portfolio, which includes 15 original video production partners and over 40 original series, totaling more than 300 original episodes per month.
Yahoo!’s diverse original video portfolio includes:
- Branded Entertainment—Yahoo! has had a long history of partnering with marketers to develop custom programs and branded creative executions. For example, The Thread sponsored by Proctor and Gamble, had over 3 million unique users a month (comScore MediaBuilder, March 2012).
- Slates— With the launch of the Women’s slate, which to date has seen over 250 million streams (internal data), Yahoo! changed the way advertisers buy online programming by enabling them to buy ad spots across all eight new shows. The additional slates including the Yahoo! Comedy Channel and men’s slate will include the same “Share of Voice” opportunities for advertisers.
- Yahoo! launched season two of the women’s slate, including five renewals and three new shows, such as “Style Studio with Rebecca Minkoff,” hosted by the famed fashion designer (coming May 2012); “The Yo Show,” featuring entertainment news reporter Michael Yo, and a new version of “In the Dressing Room with Cat Deeley,” hosted by the fashion expert and TV personality (coming this spring).
- Blockbusters—Yahoo! is uniquely positioned to deliver one-of-a-kind, immersive, global blockbusters from the world’s biggest storytellers –
- ‘Electric City,’ is a new 90-minute, action-packed sci-fi adventure series; it marks Yahoo!’s first foray into original scripted programming.
- Cybergeddon, a digital motion picture from CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, which, in partnership with Norton by Symantec, will bring to life the growing threat of cybercrime.
“The media and advertising industries are at a watershed moment, and no one is more poised to take advantage of the shift toward digital content than Yahoo!. Globally, we are a digital media powerhouse, providing high-quality, engaging & personalized content on every screen,” said Ross Levinsohn, EVP & Head of Global Media. “We’re partnering with industry leaders and top Hollywood talent, creating unique, premium experiences for distinct audiences around the world. By doing so, we create a tremendous opportunity for advertisers to connect with highly engaged and targeted audiences. We provide the content experiences that consumers want and the context that advertisers desire.”
“Yahoo! is setting the standard for original online entertainment,” said Mickie Rosen, SVP, Yahoo! Media Network. “We’re bringing celebrated storytellers and sophisticated production capabilities to provide our audience with the types of immersive experiences they’re seeking more of on the Web.”
“Yahoo! has emerged as the top choice for marketers,” said Wayne Powers, SVP, Advertising sales North America. “We understand better than anyone how to seamlessly blend their messages to target audiences within the context of our unique and compelling content experiences.”
Re-Imagining The Digital Canvas for Advertisers
Yahoo!’s original programming model provides advertisers with a unique buying opportunities, where they can align their brands with premium content at scale. With a creative canvas that uses innovative ad solutions, advertisers can reach and engage digital video audiences with streaming ads like Interactive Video Ads or through display ads like Video Ads for the Yahoo! Homepage.
Using its data and insights, content optimization and personalization technology, Yahoo! is able to identify programming topics that appeal to a variety of different demographics pertaining to the content of the shows. With its deep expertise in contextualizing video experiences, Yahoo! has developed the perfect opportunity for brands to laser-target their consumers.
The full descriptions for Yahoo!’s new original programming line-up for 2012 and beyond includes:
Working Title – Dancing With Myself (Debuts 2013)
From the creators of “Rock Of Ages” comes a musical “jukebox” comedy set in small town Ohio in the mid-80’s, and fueled by a soundtrack of the greatest pop/rock songs of that era. A comedic homage to after school specials of that era, the working title “Dancing With Myself” is an irreverent and satirical tale of one teen’s quest to fit in and find himself, his girl, and his passion… and maybe a few sweet dance moves along the way. (Matthew Weaver/ Chris D’Arienzo /RelativityREAL)
Men’s Slate of Shows and Talent:
Talk Show In Development- No Title (Debuts in July)
Host: Jeff Goldblum
Details to be announced soon
(Yahoo! Studios)
Stunt Nation (Debuts in July)
Host: Sal Masekela
A jump shot that bounces five ways to Sunday before landing in the hoop with nothing but net. The guy who stuffs 30 tacos in his face in 30 seconds. The synchronized dance number staged on a speeding rollercoaster…. For anyone who’s ever wondered how they did it (or if it’s all been faked), Stunt Nation is your fast-paced guide to online enlightenment. In each five-minute episode, we see three hilarious, cringe-inducing stunts and feats that demand a second look. But this isn’t just a clip review show. Each week, we’ll have an expert guest who, Mythbusters-style, will help our host breakdown the feat of the week. Each episode is capped off with the weekly FAIL, a feat gone horribly wrong, proving that while the Internet gives, it also takes away. Five minutes. Four feats. One ultimate show. (Fishbowl Worldwide Media. Executive Producers Vin Di Bona, Bruce Gersh and David Beebe)
Yahoo! Sports Minute (Live)
Host: Angela Sun
Like everyone these days, sports fans are busier than ever. But even though their time may be limited, their passion never is. That’s why there’s the Yahoo! Sports Minute —a daily show that quickly gets millions of sports fans up-to-speed on everything that is happening in the sports world. Hosted by the amazing Angela Sun, the Yahoo! Sports Minute is the series that anchors the entire Yahoo! Sports experience and this slate. The show has been the number one online sports show for four years running with more than 46M streams per year and over 7M minutes per month to the largest sports audience online. (Yahoo! Studios)
KaBOOM! (Debuts in July)
Host: To be announced
Featuring a gorgeous host, a hilarious explosives expert and plenty of firepower…it’s three minutes of man nirvana. The concept is simple and impossible to resist: Ridiculously fun objects getting blown to smithereens. Boom and repeat. Man is not capable of ignoring an explosion. It’s in their DNA. KaBOOM! speaks to that little deviant in each of us. Each episode features our jaw dropping “Bombshell” hostess introducing an item that is about to meet its demise. Objects include 500 Twinkies, 1000 eggs, a 10 ft stuffed Panda, a mountain of Boy Band CD’s… Next our charismatic bomb-geek-expert analyzes the fine points of what we can expect and how he is rigging the object for maximum kaBOOM! Ten cameras capture all the action in real time, slo-mo, super-slo-mo and of course our trademarked Slo-As-A-Mo-Fo. The aftermath is as fun as the set up. (Eyeboogie)
The MANual (Debuts in July)
Hosts: To be announced
Monday through Friday, The MANual presents the ultimate guide to rising above masculine mediocrity. From booze and babes, to sex and style, to food and fitness – we’ve gathered the world’s most influential men’s lifestyle experts and the world’s hottest women to bring you daily advice on simply being a better guy. Delivered with a concise mixture of humor and expertise, The MANual covers the topics we know men truly crave. Whether grilling a burger, complimenting a date, or finding your dream job, The MANual is the ultimate men’s guide to rising above the rest. (Yahoo! Studios)
Superfans (Debuts in July)
Superfans examines the amazing, bizarre and emotional extremes that fans will go to in their daily lives – all in the name of fandom. From family rooms modeled after Lambeau Field, to 300 straight days of wearing the same Drew Brees jersey, to 64 years without missing a game at Fenway, Superfans is an entertaining mix of unbelievable fanaticism and endearing loyalty. This addictive program is a sure-fire hit with our Yahoo! audience who craves extreme stories of fervor, oddity and love. (Yahoo! Studios)
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! is the premier digital media company, creating deeply personal digital experiences that keep more than half a billion people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the globe. And Yahoo!’s unique combination of Science + Art + Scale connects advertisers to the consumers who build their businesses. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).
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