Yahoo Gives 'Life' To Discovery Promo

Yahoo/Discovery Life

Discovery Channel is partnering with Yahoo on an ambitious promotional effort for the cable TV network's high-profile "Life" series debuting March 21.

Breaking March 20, the campaign for the 11-part nature program narrated by Oprah Winfrey will feature a number of advertising "firsts" on Yahoo. These include a home page takeover on the day of the premiere that includes floating images of critters and allows users to select a "Life"-themed design that will stay up for the entire day.

For the first time, an entertainment advertiser will also use Yahoo's Rich Media Ads In Search product and tandem units that interact on the Yahoo Mail home page. Other aspects of the campaign allow users to choose different animals featured in the series as their Yahoo Messenger display image and share video clips from "Life" with people on their Messenger buddy list.

As part of the build-up, Discovery will also sponsor the NCAA Scoreboard on Yahoo Sports on March 21 and launch a front-page takeover of Yahoo Mobile over the weekend aimed at the 25- to-54-year-old demographic. Terms of the ad deal between Yahoo and Discovery were not disclosed.

Produced by the BBC for Discovery Channel, "Life" was four years in the making and was filmed across every continent in the quest to capture life in all its most spectacular and bizarre forms. The two companies also teamed on the award-winning "Planet Earth" and "Blue Planet" series.

The NYTimes.com home page today began running an oversized masthead ad for the upcoming Discovery program, linking the promotional site for "Life" and allowing people to share video from the show.

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