One of local media’s big questions – what would happen to Seven West Media’s Yahoo7 once Verizon acquired Yahoo – can finally be answered.
In a statement to media this morning, SWM announced that it “and AOL/Verizon will continue to invest in the market-leading Yahoo7 joint venture in Australia.”
Adding, “both Seven West Media and AOL/Verizon will also explore broader opportunities that build on Oath’s consumer brands, original content, ad tech, proprietary data and potential acquisitions to further scale Yahoo7 in the region.”
Under the new agreement, SWM will launch its own long form catch-up TV service with TV content currently on PLUS7 and offer that exclusively through a separate, new and fully owned Seven platform due out over the next six months.
The Yahoo7 JV will be tasked with exploring new opportunities with a broader content set including content from AOL/Verizon.
Verizon is combining Yahoo with AOL, which it bought two years ago, to form a venture called Oath, led by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. Oath’s more than 50 brands include HuffPost, TechCrunch and Tumblr and are reported to reach over a billion people every month.
Kurt Burnette, chief revenue officer for SWM, said: “Our JV partners own and operate one of the world’s largest digital advertising businesses and we look forward to driving home this leadership in local and global best content, technology and innovation.
“Australia’s number one television network will now be even more seamlessly connected and sold with the number one commercial catch up TV service delivering the most effective ‘total video’ results for advertisers. The Seven team will continue its selling across all screens as has been the case for sport, sponsorship and integration and that will now extend and apply to all long form Seven content online.”
