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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Electus - highly successful for IAC

Berry Diller, CEO of IAC is stepping down, leaving large shoes to fill. Diller has had a lot of success in his position, the most recent one being the launch of next generation studio Electus with Ben Silverman. Silverman, who is the CEO of Electus, has not been shy of drawing in an impressive number of deals since the launch of the company a year ago. Amongst these projects, of which most are still in production, are the 10-episode show ‘Mafia Wives’ with VH1 and Weinstein Co., and dramas ‘William the Conquerer’ and ‘Peacekeeper’ at Starz. Not to forget are the adaptation of the Chinese gameshow ‘Big Time Spender’ and projects with Yahoo, MySpace, MTV, ABC, and NBC.

Diller is looking forward to spending more time with Electus and Ben Silverman on IAC’s media assets. He is planning on making it a point to spend much more time “in my original role in the company, before we'd built up so many operating businesses, of finding new opportunities for investment."

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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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