Ben Silverman, the former NBC entertainment czar, now has his next dance partner: Yahoo.
Ben Silverman The head of NBC programming left in July to team up with IAC/InterActiveCorp for a new venture, Electus, to churn out original programming for the Web and other distribution points.
At CES today, Mr. Silverman announced the outlines of a deal with Yahoo to create original video programs for the Internet portal. The plans tie content and advertising, a hallmark of Mr. Silverman’s stints at NBC and as a producer of TV shows such as “The Office.”
Mr. Silverman and Yahoo said there’s enormous demand from advertisers for more online video programs with which to reach out to consumers. “I have no doubt: There’s a lot of demand for this,” said Joanne Bradford, Yahoo senior vice president and the company’s link to the marketing world.
One of the first Yahoo original programs, Mr. Silverman said Friday from Las Vegas, may be finance-themed, and will fit with Yahoo’s popular Yahoo Finance pages. The first wave of Web programs is expected to start by the end of March.
Yahoo has a long and complicated history with original video content deals. In 2004, it announced a much ballyhooed collaboration with former ABC executive Lloyd Braun, who left the company in 2006. More recently, the company has focused on generating less expensive original video content, including a show about celebrity fashion trends called “The Thread.”
Mr. Silverman wouldn’t give specifics about the new content, but he said top-flight people are champing at the bit to get involved with his Web video projects. “I think you’re going to see a floodgate of creative voices migrating to this platform.”
IAC and Yahoo declined to discuss financial terms of their online-programming deal, but Ms. Bradford said the two camps have agreed to split revenue.
Mr. Silverman jumped to IAC after two bumpy years at NBC that were marked by a continued slide in the network’s primetime ratings, and headlines devoted more to Mr. Silverman’s personal antics than to his programming prowess.
Mr. Silverman and Barry Diller, IAC’s chief executive, are big fans of one another. Mr. Diller had been an investor in Reveille, the independent production company Mr. Silverman ran before he took the NBC post.
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