Sometimes, content can drive interesting partnerships – such as the one recently announced by TVO and Yahoo!Canada. Yesterday, these two organizations announced they will be working together, in that TVO will be providing text and video content to be delivered via Yahoo! Canada.
TVO has traditionally shunned advertising-supported sites such as Yahoo! — their mandate for decades has been to provide quality, educational programming that is untainted by traditional advertising, (although supported by corporate sponsorship). As a provincially-funded public broadcaster, up until now they have disdained the mass market approach to media. As a result, as good as TVO programming is, it’s never achieved mass market popularity, online or on-air.
This partnership with Yahoo!Canada signals that there’s been a shift in thinking within TVO. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.
An excerpt of the TVO release is as follows (full release here):
“The dramatic increase in demand for online content creates exciting opportunities for partnering with content providers like TVO,” said Iain Wilson, Director Business Development, Yahoo! Canada. “Tapping into the web through Yahoo! Canada gives TVO the ability to greatly expand its reach and wow new audiences with fresh, innovative educational content whenever they go online.”
TVO is currently implementing a “going digital” strategy with the goal of reaching new audiences using a multi-platform content distribution approach. To meet the growing needs of viewers who prefer to access their favourite programs based on their own unique daily schedules, partnering with a trusted online content provider like Yahoo! Canada made perfect sense.
“TVO is focused on increasing our impact in the digital space with our unique, educational media resources,” says Lisa de Wilde, TVO’s Chief Executive Officer. “Working with Yahoo! Canada aligns with TVO’s digital strategy to make our content accessible to new audiences through alternative distribution channels, while exploring new revenue streams and business models.”
Although TVO creates a wide range of educational resources for people of all ages, its initial efforts with Yahoo! Canada will be aimed at engaging web-savvy parents who look online for resources related to their children’s learning and success in school. TVO will deliver content on subjects ranging from managing homework time to dealing with bullying, including a compilation of resources for parents of children with autism and a complete inventory of TVO’s Your Voice, the first and only online interactive program for parents built on education issues .
“At TVO, we’re committed to empowering people through knowledge, and that includes partnering with parents in their children’s education,” says de Wilde. “By integrating our parent-focused educational content with a major online content provider like Yahoo! Canada, we can reach more people, while showcasing the relevance of our trusted brand.”