The big news today out of New York is that Yahoo! and ABC News are collaborating on an expansive partnership to blend their respective content streams – ABC’s worldwide network of reporters including well-known anchors such as Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos and Christiane Amanpour — into a single Web offering for consumers that they claim will reach over 100 million online users.
Execs from both companies noted in briefings ahead of Monday’s announcement that the core of the alliance is close working relationship between the respective staffs at ABC News and Yahoo News. The teams will collaborate on coverage, especially breaking news and major events such as the upcoming 2012 Election cycle. (The two organizations worked together on the recent royal wedding, to cite an early example of the potential of the partnership.) It’s worth noting that while ABC News will become the “premiere news” provider for Yahoo, both companies will maintain their separate online news sites, with each overseeing its own editorial efforts. ABCnews.com’s audience has grown to 19 million unique visitors/month (August 2011) a 164% gain over August 2010. Interesting to note that for the same time period – August 2010 to August 2011 – Yahoo News’ unique visitors were down 13.3 percent to 60 million uniques.
While there is real potential for some interesting joint efforts, it will be equally interesting to see how the editors of the respective teams manage the inherently competitive nature of individual reporters and editors.
If today’s announcements are an indication of the level of investment, the two companies have done a bit more than hold a press conference and re-purpose existing content. While it might seem like re-purposing, the move to give ABC’s “Good Morning America” morning news program a dedicated space on Yahoo News’ site (goodmorningamerica.com) is an important acknowledgement of the persistent value of some TV programming in an Internet-centric world.
The alliance will deliver some key exclusive programming including “Newsmakers,” a series of exclusive interviews, a program on tech and science developments, “This Could be Big,” hosted by “Nightline” anchor, Bill Weir. The first of those exclusive pieces of content is an interview ABC’s Stephanopoulos interviewing President Obama that was scheduled to air at 2:35 pm ET. As much as anything else, the alliance indicates Yahoo’s desire to pay off the promise implied in their company tagline, “. . . the world’s premiere digital media company.” Put another way, partnering with a recognized international news organization to leverage the Internet’s reach and 24/7 news cycle, Yahoo is adding an important piece to the foundation of what Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo’s executive vice president of Americas, said earlier this year at an analysts conference was his hope to make Yahoo “…the fifth network.”
Given Yahoo’s investment over the years in its core properties such as Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, and its development of multiplatform apps, the company has, in theory, definitely got the consumer endpoints covered.
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