Yahoo! (NASDAQ:
YHOO
) and Spotify have formed a partnership that will allow the two
entities to share content and reach new audiences. The deal,
which comes after Yahoo! announced that it had teamed up with
Fandango
and
ABC News
, is a part of the company's transition from a search and e-mail
hub to a leading entertainment destination.
In addition to these and other deals with major content
providers, Yahoo! recently began airing its own original Web
series called Burning Love, a reality TV parody that pokes fun at
The Bachelor and other dating shows.
Citing a May 2012 report from comScore (NASDAQ:
SCOR
), Yahoo! claims that its media network reaches nearly 700
million unique users every month, accounting for more than 47% of
the total worldwide Internet audience. Spotify will first bring
its on demand music service to Yahoo! Music. Users can expect to
see Spotify on other Yahoo! properties, including Yahoo! Movies
and omg!, later in the year.
Meanwhile, Spotify users will soon gain access to a Yahoo! app
for the service, which will bring original entertainment content
to the more than 10 million people actively using Spotify. Yahoo!
has not yet specified what that content will include,
however.
"At Spotify we want to light up the Web with music and as
Yahoo!'s global music partner we're able to reach their massive
audience," Daniel Ek, CEO and Founder of Spotify, said in a
company release. "We are really excited about the new Yahoo!
leadership team and thrilled to partner with them to build great
experiences around high quality content."
"Delivering compelling premium experiences across screens is
core to our mission at Yahoo!. Spotify is the leader in the
digital music field and together we can provide the 'soundtrack'
for users around the world," Ross Levinsohn, Interim CEO at
Yahoo!, also said in a company release. "What Daniel and his team
are doing is changing an industry, and we're thrilled to be
partnering with them."
Yahoo! and Spotify said that they hope to use this partnership
to "drive deeper user engagement for both companies."
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