Los Angeles — Yahoo Inc. on Monday unveiled plans to launch the latest in a series of web show, “Spotlight to Nightlight,” a fort-nightly original video program centered on the lives of celebrity moms and sponsored by State Farm. Yahoo executives assert that they have discovered a sustainable model for making original video online, in part by explicitly not competing with television.
Presented by former Miss USA Ali Landry, the show “Spotlight to Nightlight” is an extension of omg!’s hugely popular “Goddess” blog, which is centered on news, photos and perspectives from the world of famous mothers.
“’Spotlight to Nightlight’ is an example of what Yahoo! does best,” said Sibyl Goldman, General Manager of Yahoo Entertainment.
“The show perfectly complements the content and tone of omg!, provides useful and entertaining insight on a subject our users are hungry for, and offers an innovative advertising opportunity.”
During the middle of the decade, executives for Yahoo in the past have dreamed up plans for elaborate talk shows, sitcoms and other TV-type shows to lure premium advertisers, with little success. The expensive undertaking to transport TV entertainment to the Internet “were all disasters,” said Trip Chowdhry, a senior analyst for Global Equities Research. The attempted Hollywood makeover — which at one point even included plans for an interactive hidden-camera reality show — was scrapped in 2006.
But now claims that they have found a “sustainable model” to produce original web-based videos, in part by refusing to compete with TV content, reports The New York Times.
“We may have arrived at it from the opposite direction in the previous era,” said Goldman. Ms. Goldman said that some of those shows were developed even when they “did not target any existing need.”
“The one-way model — ‘We think this is great, we hope you come watch it’ — may have been more of a TV mindset,” she said.
With this more Internet-related approach to online video production, Yahoo is seeking its biggest audiences and building web shows catered directly to them. One such show, “Primetime in No Time,” recaps TV on a daily basis in two-to-five-minute-long segments. It is reportedly streamed up 400,000 times daily on average, buttressed by sponsorship support from companies like Verizon Wireless.
From Katie and Suri to Gwen and Kingston, celebrity moms and their kids are among the most popular topics on omg!. Whether taking their offspring for a shopping trip on Rodeo Drive or sweating off the baby weight at the gym, celebrity moms’ day-to-day lives have captured the attention of millions of Yahoo! users. Ali Landry, former Miss USA, actress, model and mother to a two-year-old daughter, will take fans inside the ordinary yet opulent world of celebrity parenthood, as only an insider can.
Each three- to five-minute episode of “Spotlight to Nightlight” features a talk-show with a different celebrity mom, discussing parenting tips or the latest celebrity mom news that is making headlines on omg!. The program will be anchored in the Goddess blog on omg! (http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/goddess). “Spotlight to Nightlight” will also be available in Spanish on Yahoo! en Espanol as part of the Mamas Famosas women’s blog.
“In everything we do at Yahoo!, our aim is to captivate and engage the largest online audience and connect each individual to the people and content experiences that matter most to them,” Jeff Dossett, Senior Vice President of Yahoo’s North America Audience Group, said in a statement.
“’Spotlight to Nightlight’ is doing just that for millions of people who are looking for insights into the lives of celebrity moms.”
The show will be sponsored by State Farm, Yahoo said. According to the New York Times, State Farm was in the market for a new outlet to reach a female audience.