Partnership Between Yahoo And Electus Beginning Of New Trend Towards Original Online Content

Online companies like AOL, Yahoo, and Netflix increasingly challenge traditional broadcasters. They focus on producing original video content in order to capture audience’s attention and to surpass traditional forms of entertainment. Success is visible in numbers, which gives companies reason to further pursue shows with original online content. Yahoo for example has taken part in an increasing number of various activities, including partnerships with Electus and State Farm. This collaboration with Ben Silverman’s next generation studio Electus led to an online program called “Ready, Set, Dance!” Since the new original dance competition series Yahoo has announced the start of ‘Breakout,’ a regular service on its Finance channel.

According to Erin McPherson, Yahoo's head of video programming and originals, Yahoo wants “to be disruptive.” She further explained that her “hope is that we get to the point that we're a first window for content." Many others in the industry share McPherson’s positive attitude. Les Morgenstein, chief executive of Alloy Entertainment is convinced the web provides a large number of opportunities. "There are a lot of TV creators who have had success and not ownership," he explained.

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Eisner Is New Member Of IAC Board

Michael Eisner was elected to IAC’s board of directors, increasing the total number of board members to 13. He is joining the company due to a recent urge and push to concentrate more on content. The e-commerce firm has been very successful in its digital partnership with Ben Silverman and his next generation studio Electus. The partnership agreed to a deal with AOL, in which a web series was developed to be streamed on AOL’s website. The morning show Electus produced is called the “AOL Daybreak” and forms only the beginning of future digital partnerships focusing on content.

Eisner’s Election is a unification of him and IAC CEO Barry Diller. Eisner began his career when he was hired by Diller to work for ABC. Afterwards Eisner joined Diller, who decided to leave ABC and run Paramount in 1974. In addition to working together for many years and gathering experience running some of the most well-known businesses Eisner also made a name for himself when he served as Walt Disney’s CEO for twenty-one years from 1984 until 2005. Eisner’s Viguru studio was able to develop scripted series for the Web and recording another partnership with AOL through its aggressive approach.

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Armstrong Revitalizing AOL

Tim Armstrong, who has been the new CEO of AOL for two years, is attempting to revitalize AOL by taking on board different shows and partnering with stars and experts such as Queen Latifah and Ben Silverman, Electus CEO, respectively. Armstrong is planning to use creativity and original content to target and master the next era of the Internet. "The first phase of the Internet was about access, and I believe AOL was the biggest player in that phase. Then the next phase has really been about the platform, so you've seen Apple, Google and Facebook there," he explains. "But the phase after this is going to be more of the Hollywood phase, where it's about content, creativity and really putting a human face on the Internet."

Part of this effort and direction includes employing Queen Latifah as the new host of a sports-themed talk show for women. She will star as well as produce in the web series, covering topics on entrepreneurialism, entertainment and sports. The co-founder of the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington, will oversee all these new plans. Latifah is excited about the opportunity and praises AOL for its ideas and commitment to target them and put them into action. "It's great having a company that's supportive of doing the same kinds of things and looking to the future, as opposed to trying to hold on to how things were in the past," she said.

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Silverman's and Electus' quest for more

Ben Silverman and his next generation studio Electus are gaining more exposure and more praise. The IAC-owned company has recorded major successes by partnering with Web’s major players AOL, Yahoo, MySpace and Facebook. Recently it also announced a deal with VH1 for a reality series called Mob Wives, showing its involvement in TV and movies. Nada Stirratt, chief revenue officer at MySpace accredits this success to CEO Silverman, who has a feeling for what is and what will be successful. She states, he is so full of ideas that inspirations for new projects and partnerships are not difficult come up with.

This would also be a reason why he is going into a field that has been untouched and abandoned for a long time - scripted content for the Web. According to Andrew Budkofsky from Break Media, Silverman already takes online video to a whole other level, raising expectations for this new plan high. Indicators for the future boom of scripted Web content are the readiness of audiences to be entertained by Web video and the way online content is shared today.

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Electus and AOL create “AOL Daybreak”

Ben Silverman’s next generation studio Electus and AOL are creating a new show called AOL Daybreak. This talk show will be shown in the mornings and will cover news as well as opinion about these by users. Lindsay Campbell from Wallstrip and Moblogic will be the host of the show that is going to resemble the morning radio, just online. The most important and relevant news will be covered in the mornings. AOL Daybreak is part of AOL’s try to create a site with whole day program divided into different segments of the day to cover varying areas of the news. Next to the major news stories of the day this video-heavy site will cover entertainment, and fashion as well as buzz-worthy videos.

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