• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, June 16, 2010

In a conversation with Peter Kafka kicking off OMMA Publish, Jimmy Pitaro, Yahoo's VP of Media acknowledges the company's strategy over the last decade has alternated between a focus on creating original content and aggregating third-party material. The main difference in Yahoo's renewed focus on original content now compared to the Terry Semel/Lloyd Braun era, is that the "snackable" video programs the company is serving up today, like Primetime in No Time, are based on audience insights. Search patterns the day after shows like "American Idol" showed people were interested in a recap program--a vast focus group, in effect.

So Yahoo has repeated that model with its more than 20 Web shows. "We don't launch a program unless the audience tells us they want it," says Pitaro. Yahoo also doesn't launch new series without a sponsor on board. The company is applying the same approach through its recent purchase of Associated Content, but instead of professional content, Yahoo will create tailored niche, user-generated programming with the help of ACs' 380,000 freelance contributors and its SEO-based technology for discerning stories people want to read about.

Pitaro says it could help Yahoo cover areas where it's currently thin, like soccer or lacrosse in sports, compared to football. But will it charge advertisers the same as for premium content. Pitaro says that TBD, but he hopes so. And wll that drag down Yahoo CPMs? No, it will hopefully create incremental revenue, he adds.