Yahoo to scrap ideas for original programming

Posted by John Burke on March 7, 2006 at 4:19 PM

"If the newspaper companies fail to gain those Web eyeballs, how much will pure-play Internet companies have to pay to produce the depth and breadth of content that the newspaper companies have been churning out? Who will foot the bill for news? Google? Yahoo? Consumers? Here’s hoping someone does." This quote from a February 28 AdAge about the worries of paid-for online content may have rung true at the time of publication. But two days on, worries about the ability of pure Internet companies to produce original content emerged.

A March 2 article in the New York Times reports that Yahoo is eliminating plans to produce original television-style sitcoms and other programs for Web distribution. "This is not about creating one-off hits like in my old business. That is not going to create a sustainable competitive advantage over the long term," said Lloyd Braun, former chairman of ABC Entertainment and hired by Yahoo to head creation of original programming.

Although Yahoo will continue production of its projects Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone and Richard Bangs Adventures (as well as expand its original content in Europe), publications that are closer rivals to newspaper content, the sites have not produced the traffic results that Yahoo had hoped for. These sub-par results and the elimination of original entertainment could suggest that content produced by Internet companies is difficult not only to create, but to sell to the public.

A failure of new media companies to produce original content could mean more partnerships with traditional media for content distribution via the Web in the future. But will traditional media find the business models necessary to maintain the revenues it needs for survival in the rapidly transforming media landscape?

Sources: AdAge, New York Times (through Cyberjournalist)

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