• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, August 30, 2011

Yahoo plans to debut a slate of original programming in October geared to women 25-54 and advertisers that want to reach that demographic.

The lineup of eight shows developed with Electus and other entertainment studios includes "Ultimate Proposal," in which a team of "experts" help men plan creative marriage proposals; "Healthy Gal: A Work in Progress," focused on healthy living; "The Failure Club," a series about overcoming failure created by documentary maker Morgan Spurlock, and "The Food Program."

Each episode will last three to eight minutes and appear across various Yahoo properties, including the omg! entertainment news site. Yahoo says content of the shows was created using its data, content optimization and personalization technology, along with its background in developing contextual video programming.

Instead of lining up sponsors in advance for certain shows, as it has done in the past, Yahoo is selling advertising on a "share of voice" basis across the slate of eight shows. No advertisers are signed up yet, but the company says it's in talks with brands about the opportunity.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has frequently emphasized that video is a key part of the company's content development efforts and represents its fastest-growing ad category. The company has continued to build out its video operations to help bolster sagging display ad growth.

Besides the new shows premiering October 3, its video lineup already spans some 20 programs, including recap show "Primetime in No Time," "Daily Ticker," and "Yahoo Sports Minute." In May, it launched "Trending Now," delivering the day's top headlines and trending stories based on Yahoo search data and social media buzz.

In July, Yahoo ranked as the sixth-biggest Web video property, attracting 46.3 million video viewers, according to comScore. But time spent isn't that high, compared to some other top video sites. Yahoo users spent an average of 41 minutes watching video versus 354 on YouTube, 205.5 on Hulu and 58.5 on AOL.