• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 9, 2012

Last week, critics wondered whether Yahoo would lose sight of media innovation under new CEO, and former PayPal president, Scott Thompson.

Answering back, Yahoo on Monday revealed its first foray into scripted original programming.

Next spring, Yahoo plans to stream “Electric City" -- a futuristic animated series “starring” Tom Hanks. In partnership with Hanks, his Playtone production company and Reliance Entertainment, the series will include 20 episodes -- each three or four minutes long -- which Yahoo describes as an “action-packed sci-fi adventure.”

The series, in which Hanks gives voice to the main character, is set in an apocalyptic future that any sci-fi fan will likely appreciate. To maximize user engagement, "Electric City" will also feature a 3D interactive map and include interactive puzzle games related to the story.

Although promising, the deal is hardly enough to quiet analysts’ concerns about Yahoo and its prospects going forward. “It’s probably a bit of stretch to say Yahoo is back on track thanks to one deal,” said David Hallerman, principal analyst at eMarketer. “One deal is good, but a small thing overall.”

Broadening the show’s appeal, Yahoo plans to distribute "Electric City" online and through tablet devices in several languages, including Spanish and French.

Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo executive vice president, said Monday that the company is bent on expanding its breadth of content beyond news, event coverage and reality formats.

According to Playtone parter Gary Goetzman: “It was always our intent to have this project live and breathe online, and we felt Yahoo would be the perfect home.”

While details remain scarce regarding sponsorships and brand tie-ins, Yahoo is known to be in need of a serious ad boost.   

New data from Macquarie Research, tracking home-page advertising on the major Web portals, found that display trends on Yahoo remain weak. In particular, the use of oversized/custom ad units -- which command premium CPMs compared to traditional placements -- fell to 26% of days in the fourth quarter from 32% in the prior quarter and 34% in the year-earlier period.

Conversely, Forrester recently credited Yahoo with helping to grow domestic digital video ad spend.

Alongside content hubs like Hulu and Google, Forrester said Yahoo is giving advertisers more reason to realign their TV budgets. Partly as a result, by 2016, domestic digital video ad spending will explode by more than 250% -- from $2 billion in 2011 to $5.4 billion, Forrester predicts.