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Yahoo continues content push with exclusive WWE partnership and original programming

Yahoo continues content push with exclusive WWE partnership and original programming

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Yahoo billboard
Yahoo billboard

Last week, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced an exclusive deal to offer Saturday Night Live’s clip library online, but it turns out that was just the tip of the content iceberg. Today, Yahoo is revealing a slew of new programming deals that run the gamut from partnerships with ABC News and WWE wrestling to new original programming including a John Stamos comedy about celebrities losing their virginity.

First, the partnerships. The biggest news is Yahoo’s deal with WWE, which gives it exclusive access to archives of historic wrestling matches, shows, highlights, and other content. There will be two new weekly series produced exclusively for Yahoo, as well as a 30-minute pre-show for Monday Night Raw and pre-show content for every WWE pay-per-view event. Yahoo’s also extending its partnership with ABC News, adding a trio of new online-only shows: World News Beyond the Headlines with Diane Sawyer, Nightline: Online, and GMA Live. Yahoo is also teaming up with Conde Nast to deliver video content online. And finally, finance — Talking Numbers is a partnership with CNBC that will give viewers a technical and fundamental analysis of investment opportunities.

"Losing Your Virginity" will have celebrity guests recount their first sexual experiences

Yahoo will also be stepping out with half a dozen new original programs later this year. A trio of comedies will premiere online beginning this fall, including Tiny Commando created by (and starring) Daily Show alum Ed Helms as a four-inch-tall private investigator. We Need Help from Cheryl Hines and Rachel Harris revolves around the travails of the pair’s shared personal assistant. Lastly, Losing Your Virginity with John Stamos will be co-executive-produced by the Full House star and documentarian Morgan Spurlock, and feature celebrity guests recounting their first sexual experiences. "Viewers will be treated to humorous recreations using crude animation, stop-motion techniques, and the occasional Barbie Doll and/or sock puppet," says Yahoo. A trio of women’s lifestyle shows will also debut sometime this year: "interactive cooking show" Cinema & Spice, another food program tentatively titled Grill Girls, and Fashion Recipe, which aims to elucidate viewers on the finer points of handbags and pencil skirts.

It’s interesting that as Aol continues to trim its content expenses with the closure of the majority of Aol Music and ComicsAlliance, Yahoo is going full-steam in the other direction. Since taking the reins last year, CEO Marissa Mayer has been aggressively trying to re-orient the company around "daily habits," and judging from this news and the company's rumored efforts to take a controlling stake in Dailymotion, Yahoo thinks internet video is an important part of that mix.