Sunnyvale, California — It appears that Yahoo is serious about reclaiming it lost glory as it continues to strike partnerships with large traditional media brands. On the heels of its recently announced partnership with Spotify, Yahoo on Thursday said it is teaming with Clear Channel to offer its iHeartRadio digital radio service on the Web portal, the second such deal in as many days, as the web portal plans to expand its current strategy to bring exclusive media and digital content in a bid to compete with Facebook and Google in the online advertising space.
The companies disclosed their association late Wednesday in which Yahoo will use Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio platform as its official digital radio service. Moving forward, the companies will also cross-promote each other’s content on iHeartRadio.com, local radio station sites, and across Yahoo’s entire network. In return, Yahoo will provide exclusive video coverage, and interim CEO Ross Levinsohn gets a name check.
As part of the multi-year deal, the two establishments will also partner on nearly a dozen live concerts, where Yahoo will have exclusive Web and mobile broadcast rights and Clear Channel will handle selling of sponsorships around events. That includes the upcoming iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas in September.
Admittedly, iHeartRadio claims a monthly audience of about 45 million unique listeners and 80 million downloads of its mobile apps. Meanwhile, Clear Channel is the biggest player in U.S. terrestrial radio, with a reach of more than 237 million monthly users in 150 markets.
Meanwhile, the deals would allow jointly-produced original content that will appear on Yahoo’s Media Network, which includes its entertainment sites Music, Movies and omg!, and promoted on television. Also, the Clear Channel deal will allow Yahoo content to be promoted on Clear Channel’s 850-odd radio stations across the United States.
Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman said the deal was struck on the suggestion of interim Yahoo CEO Ross Levinsohn.
“We were delighted when Ross approached us about this partnership,” Pittman said in a statement. “We like the direction Yahoo is going and by working together we can accelerate growth for the both of us.”
Levinsohn adds, “This partnership will expand our ability to provide consumers and advertisers with the best premium content available and provide Clear Channel with unmatched digital reach.”
The former Web portal giant continues its approach to become a “media company” in several strategic partnership, and recently inked similar pacts with ABC News and business TV giant CNBC to jointly distribute content and programming across their networks.
Financial terms of the deal were not revealed, particularly whether Yahoo would see a cut of Clear Channel’s revenue from ads served through the radio service.