The Heavyweight champion of the 'Net=YHOO..............................................News Corp., Yahoo! enter partnership
By Richard Morgan
REUTERS
NEW YORK — Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and Internet navigator
Yahoo! trumpeted a "major marketing relationship" Monday that will
entwine the two media companies on cable, on-line, over the air and in chat
rooms.
The arrangement includes an old-fashioned money payment — Yahoo! is
paying News Corp. an undisclosed amount for media exposure on nine
divisions, including Fox Television Station Group, Fox News Channel and
20th Century Fox Film — but much of the transaction's value derives from
what Yahoo! marketing manager Nancy White called a "value-added"
exchange.
This component not only accounts for the bulk of the one-year deal's $20
million-plus value but works pretty much as any barter agreement does.
On Super Sunday, for example, Yahoo! will host a live on-line chat with the
creator of "Family Guy," which premieres immediately after Fox's broadcast
of the game.
In return, Yahoo! will effectively get a discount, as well as what White
called "offline media exposure," on its purchase of the final commercial
before the Jan. 31, 6:18 p.m. EST kickoff.
The relationship will extend to numerous other tie-ins and cross promotions
between Yahoo! and Fox Sports Net, the national cable sports
programmer; the Fox Television Station Group; FX, Fox's general
entertainment cable channel; Fox News Channel; 20th Century Fox Film;
Fox Music; and, Fox Interactive.
News Corp. One, a unit formed last year to cut multiplatform deals across
all of the News Corp. properties, brought the two companies together.
So far, this one-stop-shopping unit claims to have generated nearly $50
million in incremental revenue and marketing support for News Corp., thus
making it the leader in the growing field of vertically integrated media deals.
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