Yahoo has announced a new partnership with CBS Television Distribution that will extend the reach of its syndicated news magazine The Insider. As a result, starting in January 2013, the newsmagazine will be renamed omg! Insider in order to promote a multiplatform entertainment news series.
omg! Insider will continue to have Kevin Frazier and Brooke Anderson host the show on television, but will also use Yahoo’s talent like Kristen Aldridge and Michael Yo, both who host two of the search engine’s web series.
This deal is great for both parties because it will draw more attention to Yahoo’s already popular omg! network, which is already visited by 30 million viewers each month. Fans of The Insider will find that Yahoo will be the only place to find video providied by the updated show.
Through this partnership, CBS will see its popular show going from being just an on-air series to one where both web and television collide and form a solid union — this isn’t the first time that CBS has entered the web arena. Back when Katie Couric was hosting the CBS Evening News, she had the after-show segments broadcast on the CBS Interactive network.
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omg! Insider online will give users continuous updates on what’s going on with their favorite celebrities and newsmakers, including video clips, interviews, photos, and other “interactive social features”.
Interestingly, this seems like it’s almost a replacement to another series that CBS had on their site before: What’s Trending with Shira Lazar. That show, before it had the partnership terminated, ran through what’s trending on the Internet and often involved interviews with celebrities or other newsworthy individuals while also revealing the hottest trends.
According to CTD President of Sales Joe DiSalvo, this deal also provides a great promotional opportunity for the various TV station partners that CBS works with — online, the show will break news during the day while also promoting the show at night:
We’re excited to give our affiliate stations the opportunity to be associiated with one of the largest news sites in the business. We’re adding value to The Insider by tapping into an online audience in the millions and taking advantage of Yahoo!’s omg! brand and its loyal following. Our stations will get an unparalleled promotional opportunity online. This is the perfect example of what the convergence of broadcast and digital is all about.
The Insider was started in 2004 as a spinoff to Entertainment Tonight and brings in about 2.2 million viewers each night. The show will continue to be produced and distributed by CBS Television Distribution.
Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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