Yahoo is increasingly pitching to become a video player in the US, announcing it will create 18 new series both long and short-form at the IAB Newfronts in New York overnight.
The new series' represents an increased investment in content creation from Yahoo, which has already dabbled in the space through Yahoo Live, its magazine suite, and its Yahoo Screen offering.
It will create a global electronic music competition-style live series titled 'Ultimate DJ', which will be broadcast through its Yahoo Live channel.
It will also create 14 new short-form series surrounding its magazine channels such as Yahoo Style, Yahoo Beauty, and Yahoo Movies, and it will also extend its reach into longer-form TV-style content.
Yahoo Screen already picked up the sixth season of cult hit Community, and now it has commissioned a new sitcom described as “what it means to be in your late 20s in 2015 Manhattan, with an edgier, 21st century take on Friends in the era of social media.”
The increased focus on video content from the US fits into its $640 million acquisition of video trading platform BrightRoll last year, a video trading platform.
“We're pleased to be extending those investments into premium video content offerings to guide our users to the best, most relevant content and the world's best storytellers to our global audience,”chief marketing officer and head of media Kathy Savitt said.
“We know that advertisers want to tap into premium video content that connects them with engaged audiences across devices, and they also want to buy video ads programmatically.”
Locally, Yahoo7's commercial director Paul Sigaloff told AdNews that it is aiming to make more video inventory over the coming year, with Seven increasingly talking to production companies about making more short-form content.
“Yahoo7 has traditionally been known for its long-form catch-up, which is great, we’ve been number one in it for a while but we have to grow that,” Sigaloff said.
“That’s the model for Plus7, from a short-form perspective we had some big debates internally about whether we wanted to create a standalone destination site for short-form content.
"Given the mobile consumption shifts that are out there, short-form really lends itself to advertisers and the view is short-form content should be available wherever people are, so that’s a big focus for us.
“We are of the view we can grow our short-form content by 38% this year, which is pretty significant and something we’re excited about.”
You can read more from Yahoo7 in the 1 May print edition of AdNews. Get your copy on iPad now, or in Print here.
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