In yet another boon to ad insertion companies everywhere, Yahoo! has announced plans to diversify their advertising revenue streams by adding audio advertisements to Yahoo! Broadcast.
The new streaming destination being offered by the king of all portals will carry streamed audio and video entertainment from content providers such as National Lampoon, ABCNews.com, Accuweather, CourtTV.com, The Sporting News and Travelocity.com. In 1999, Yahoo! bought its way into the multimedia content and streaming market when it purchased the talent and technology that was Broadcast.com from Mark Cuban, who now owns the Dallas Mavericks.
Last month, Yahoo! confirmed that despite the site’s overwhelming popularity-it remains the most visited site worldwide-it has begun to see a downturn in banner advertising revenue. Furthermore, companies such as Braintree, Mass.-based interMute have developed software that completely strips banner advertisements from a users’ PC. Because this technology is ineffective in deleting audio ads, audio streams may be the best way to advertise on the Internet in coming years.
As consumers increasingly get high-speed Internet connections in the home, the market for high-quality audio and video steaming will surely explode, and Yahoo! is looking for ways to market and promote “Duet,” the online joint venture of Universal and Sony to distribute digital copies of titles in their libraries. The recent news from Yahoo! that it intends to get further into the multimedia entertainment market comes only days after the company named former Warner Bros. chairman and Terry S. Semel as chairman and chief executive officer.