Former NBC Entertainment chief Ben Silverman and Barry Diller's IAC/Interactive Corp teaed up last fall to launch a new studio called "Electus" to create entertainment, ads and branded content. Now we're finally seeing what this merger of new and old media has up its sleeve.
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Yahoo
Today Electus announced it's teaming up with Yahoo to provide original branded content.
Yahoo says it'll work with its advertisers to figure out what kind of content they want, going to Silverman's team to create entertainment that fits with the brand.
The product might be embedded into the content, it might sponsor the webisodes - the format will depend on each advertiser's goal.
Yahoo's SVP of North American Revenue and Market development says this should be a new way to meet advertiser demand for creative video opportunities.
Electus also announced some talent for creating this content, getting top TV host Ryan Seacrest, and comedians Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Ugly Betty star America Ferrera on board.
Jason Bateman sat down to tell us why he and Will Arnett are getting into advertising.
Bateman says that in this era of ad-skipping TiVo he wants to create advertising that's worth stopping to watch.
He insists that as a kid he really loved commercials, and he wants to bring that fun back.
Now we'll see what kind of revenues this new model and these new content creators can generate.
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