Yahoo!, Toyota and Reveille Launch “Who Knew?,” an Original Daily News Web Series
— Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. (TMS) and Reveille today announced the launch of WHO KNEW?, Yahoo! News’ first daily original Web series (whoknew.news.yahoo.com). Composed of easy-to-digest commentaries on current events, the series provides news consumers with unknown and out-of-the-ordinary facts and information behind the most talked-about current events of the day. The program — part of a broader content production and distribution agreement between Yahoo! and Reveille, also announced today — is designed to give the audience the upper hand in daily water-cooler conversations.
Hosted on Yahoo! News, WHO KNEW? will feature a new, 90-second episode each weekday, based on the most-clicked news story of the day. The series was developed collaboratively by Yahoo!, Toyota and Reveille for the launch of the redesigned Toyota Avalon. It brings together Yahoo!’s scale and understanding of its audience, Toyota’s understanding of its Avalon customer, and Reveille’s creative insights and proven production expertise. Yahoo! and Reveille also recently produced “Real Life Makeover” for Walmart on Yahoo! Shine (shine.yahoo.com/event/makeover/), Yahoo!’s site for women. Through this relationship, Yahoo! and Reveille plan to work closely with additional advertisers to produce more online series for Yahoo!, based on audience insights and marketer objectives.
“Creative, original programming such as WHO KNEW? is an essential part of Yahoo!’s mission to be the center of people’s online lives,” said Mark Walker, vice president of Yahoo! News. “WHO KNEW? will inform and entertain the Internet’s largest news audience with equal parts need-to-know and did-you-know information about the topics they care about most. Yahoo!’s deep understanding of how our audience consumes news, combined with Reveille’s history of producing popular original programming, has helped us build a series that we believe will be a hit with Yahoo! News viewers.”
“Working with Yahoo!, we’ve created a web series that provides consumers with short nuggets of infotainment behind the day’s most popular news content, while giving Toyota an ideal platform to better connect with an audience that’s highly engaged,” said Howard T. Owens, Managing Director at Reveille.
Sponsored by Toyota on behalf of the redesigned Avalon, WHO KNEW? will include several branding elements on the page and within the program. Most notably, one “comforting fact” will appear on the program each week. It aligns with the Avalon campaign theme: “Comfort Is Back. Travel Avalon Class.” Toyota will support its campaign with a customized Yahoo! homepage ad execution on April 14, as well as a first-of-its-kind Yahoo! News homepage ad execution in May.
“Yahoo! and Reveille have been excellent creative partners in developing breezy yet informational content that appeals to our Avalon customer,” said Dionne Colvin, national marketing media manager for TMS. “We have every confidence in the series. Yahoo! News is a trusted source for our Avalon customer, and we’ve worked successfully with Reveille in the past to develop original content.”
The daily-news original Web series will give Toyota access to Yahoo! News’ vast audience, reaching 21% of online adults — more than any other online news site. The Yahoo! News audience, made up of more than 43 million monthly unique visitors, is an opportunity for Toyota to reach its target audience for Avalon: young baby boomers who are highly engaged with current events and interested in understanding the news beyond the headlines.
Yahoo!’s relationship with Reveille continues the Yahoo!’s long history of developing and distributing original premium programming that seamlessly incorporates advertiser messages into creative content, engaging consumers and meeting marketer objectives. Yahoo!’s original programming hits also include: PRIME TIME IN NO TIME, the most watched original online program, and TECH TICKER, the most watched finance show online.
About Reveille
Reveille is a leading independent studio focused on exploiting worldwide intellectual property rights in scripted and unscripted television and digital entertainment, and a world leader in creating integrated marketing opportunities for advertisers. Reveille is known for popular and award-winning hit series including THE BIGGEST LOSER, THE OFFICE, THE BURIED LIFE, UGLY BETTY, THE TUDORS, TABATHA’S SALON TAKEOVER, SHEAR GENIUS and PARENTAL CONTROL. Reveille has developed many original online series for brands including the series FIT TO BOOM for Subway and IT’S EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS WITH JACK AND SUZY WELCH for Microsoft. Upcoming television series include MASTERCHEF, GIGANTIC, LOSING IT WITH JILLIAN and BREAKTHROUGH WITH TONY ROBBINS. Through its distribution arm, Shine International, Reveille distributes its extensive library of programming to more than 150 countries. Reveille is part of the Shine Group, one of the world’s foremost multinational entertainment and drama companies.
About Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. is the marketing, sales, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion. Established in 1957, TMS markets products and services through a network of more than 1,400 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealers. Toyota directly employs more than 34,000 people in the U.S. and sold more than 1.77 million vehicles in 2009.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyota.com, www.lexus.com, www.scion.com or www.toyotanewsroom.com.
About Yahoo
Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most visited Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!’s vision is to be the center of people’s online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).
Yahoo! is the trademark and/or registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc.
All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Yahoo! Inc.
Yahoo! Communications
Brian Nelson, 408-349-6113
bnelson@yahoo-inc.com
or
Reveille
Karlyn Nelson, 323-866-6060
karlyn.nelson@freud.com
Jonathan Bing, 323-866-6060
jonathan.bing@freud.com
or
Saatchi & Saatchi LA for Toyota
Erin Poole, 310-214-6162
erin.poole@saatchila.com
source: Yahoo!
