Yahoo Adds ‘Daytime’ on Heels of ‘Prime’ Success

Yahoo on Friday (May 14) will launch Daytime in No Time, a daily three-minute collection of highlights from that day’s talk shows, soap operas game shows and the like. The show is a spin-off of Yahoo’s similar and quite successful Prime Time in No Time series, which executives at the Web portal report has generated close to 200 million views since launching in March of 2008.J. C. Penney has signed on as Daytime in No Time’s premiere sponsor. The retailer will received branded ‘bumper’ messaging prior to episodes, and will run both banners adjacent to the video screen along with post-roll video spots. Plus, the show’s host will wear J. C. Penney’s clothing during each episode.Like Prime Time, Daytime is being hosted by a comedian, Nikki Boyer, who will offer her commentary on the various featured clips. However according to Sibyl Goldman, vp of entertainment for Yahoo, Daytime—which is targeted to women 25-49, will take a slightly different tone, one reflective of the daypart it celebrates. “Both have comedy but Frank [Nicotero, the host of Primetime] is a little more lovingly mocking,” she explained. “This show is very much in synch with daytime programming. The set is light, airy and pretty. The show is more girly overall.”For Yahoo, the show represents another way to expand its footprint in original content without incurring major product costs. Both shows use short snippets of footage from TV shows free of charge (such clips are considered “fair use” under U.S. copyright law). “This format has been performing amazingly well for us,” said Goldman. The company has extended the host-and-highlights formula to other genres, such as the popular Yahoo Sports Minute, which is sponsored by Dunkin Donuts. That short-form daily show pulls in over 175,000 viewers each day, according to Yahoo’s internal numbers.As for whether daytime highlights will score with viewers, Goldman said that as far back as last summer her team began noticing more interest, and more searches, among TV fans seeking latest clips from shows like Ellen or The View. “I think it has to do with the way people function online now,” she said. “There can be a lot of buzz around an event from TV and people are talking about, and the question is ‘did you see it?’” So they seek it out online. “We’ve found a really great place to fulfill that need.”However, Yahoo’s not the only one looking to fulfill that need. For several years People.com has run a similar daytime roundup package dubbed "They Said What?" And this past November AOL entered the crowding best of TV field with Morning Rush—which focuses specifically on highlights from morning shows like Good Morning America.But Goldman isn’t worried about the competition, given the company’s previous success with Primetime. On its best days that show has generated over 9 million streams. I’m not worried about what other folks are doing,” she said. “For us, we know that we need to be timely, relevant and complementary to the behaviors of Internet users. This feels really right to us.”

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Yahoo Adds ‘Daytime’ on Heels of ‘Prime’ Success

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