ABC News, Yahoo partner for digital media initiative
Oct 6, 2011 2:49 PM, By Michael Grotticelli
The companies said the new alliance will draw more online traffic than ABC's network news competitors combined.
In another major consolidation of television and the Web, ABC News announced this week that it is teaming up with Yahoo News to become what it calls the "top digital news source."
Officially announced on the network's "Good Morning America" television broadcast with much of the network's top talent present, the companies said they are not merging, but their traffic will be reported together and the partnership will be a deep collaboration in news production.
Yahoo said ABC, which is owned by Walt Disney, will be the "premier" news provider on Yahoo News and that a "highly interactive" version of the "Good Morning America" program would appear as a channel on the Yahoo site. ABC News personalities will be seen regularly online.
The companies said their news services have a combined reach of 100 million viewers each month. Under the agreement, the two editorial groups will collaborate on coverage and integrate several news bureaus.
For example, George Stephanopoulos interviewed President Obama live online on Monday. "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour has a weekly series, and Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters and "Nightline" anchor Bill Weir will produce original online content for Yahoo.
ABC anchor Diane Sawyer called it a game-changing deal on the air. It moves ABC News' digital footprint to a much larger online service, while getting Yahoo nearly four times as much online traffic as its new partner.
ABC News president Ben Sherwood said that the two companies have been working for months on the partnership. The companies said the new alliance will draw more traffic than ABC's network competitors combined.
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