TV Producer Extends Yahoo! Apprenticeship, Expands Relationship

Reality TV impressario Mark Burnett and Yahoo! Wednesday announced a multi-season extension to their relationship for future versions of "The Apprentice." The deal includes versions of "The Apprentice" with Donald Trump, as well as "The Apprentice" with Martha Stewart. The agreement also allows for any future versions of "The Apprentice" following the 2005-2006 television season.

The arrangement expands on the partnership between Mark Burnett Productions and Yahoo!, which produced the official sites for the last two seasons of "The Apprentice," and the premiere season of "The Contender."

"The relationship with Mark Burnett has given Yahoo! the ability to explore a greater range of content and advertising integration than ever before," Jim Moloshok, senior vice president of entertainment and content acquisition at Yahoo!, said. "Programming 'The Apprentice' across the Yahoo! network has allowed us to provide users with a unique online experience and to give 'The Apprentice' the broadest reach possible in front of an advertiser's ideal demos."

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Tracking online user behavior, Moloshok and his team have found that most users who visit "The Apprentice" site go on to visit four other sites within the Yahoo! network. Also, according to research conducted by MRI and Yahoo!, the average visitor to "The Apprentice" has a household income of over $100,000, compared to just $60,000 for the average prime-time television viewer. "These findings depict an extremely engaged, affluent consumer that any advertiser would be attracted to."

The crossover relationship between Yahoo! and Mark Burnett has helped market name-brand products, according to Moloshok. "The Haines t-shirts featured on the show to celebrate their 50th anniversary sold out within 12 hours from people searching through Yahoo! Shopping; the Pontiac Solstice featured in one episode has gotten a great deal of orders; Intel, which only advertises on the Web site, has done very well," he said.

Advertising opportunities include: 10- to-30-second video ads at the opening of the exclusive video; display ads across the many pages of the TV shows' sites; integration into original online content; sponsorship of polls and interactive elements; and custom sweepstakes.

"Yahoo! has an amazing ability to seamlessly integrate our televised programming into an interactive format that not only accurately reflects the content of each show, but enhances it in new and exciting ways," Mark Burnett said in a statement.

The official Web sites for the fourth and fifth seasons of "The Apprentice" with Donald Trump and the first season of "The Apprentice" with Martha Stewart will include video produced exclusively for Yahoo!; extended versions of highlighted moments from each week's show; "Pick-Em" fantasy games; mobile content for phones; exclusive photos and three-dimensional virtual tours of the "Apprentice" suites and Trump's boardroom; original editorial written by former "Apprentice" candidates; personal photo albums; special Yahoo! Messenger IMVironments featuring Donald Trump and Martha Stewart; blogs from "Apprentice" participants, and more.

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