Yahoo to Launch Web Site Devoted to Food
By
GARY GENTILE
LOS ANGELES (AP) - With online competition for
eyeballs intensifying, Web
portal Yahoo Inc. (YHOO)
is launching a new site devoted to food that will
feature videos and other content from celebrity
chefs such as Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart.
Yahoo Food is set to launch Thursday, the first
major offering from the company's
Lifestyles group, based in Santa Monica.
"People are searching the Web and Yahoo every
day for life's biggest question - what's for dinner?"
said Deanna Brown, general manager of Yahoo Lifestyles.
Yahoo has been trying to overcome slowing financial
growth that has been giving investors a serious
case of indigestion. The company's stock price
is down by 34 percent so far this year.
Rival
companies
such as Google Inc. (GOOG),
which recently purchased the video site YouTube,
have been aggressively adding video content to
attract advertisers looking for alternatives to
traditional media outlets.
Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, has so far relied on
video content from major media companies rather
than the kind of homemade fare found on YouTube
and the social networking
site MySpace, which is owned by News Corp. (NWS).
Yahoo started its media division several years
ago to produce more original content as well as
license
material on a variety of topics, including finance,
entertainment, music, sports and games.
Financial arrangements with Yahoo Food content
providers were not disclosed. The site will offers
advertisers such as Kraft, Masterfoods USA, Diageo
and Lending Tree the ability to provide exclusive
content and marketing
opportunities.
Most of the content will come from partners, including
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Wolfgang Puck,
Everyday with Rachael Ray, Food & Wine, Epicurious,
Cook's Illustrated and Reader's Digest.
There will also be original content, including
an online video show called "Cheap and Easy"
and contributions on regional cuisine from 13
columnists from around the country.
A database
of thousands of recipes will be available through
a partnership with allrecipes.com.
The idea for the site came from the 1.5 million
food-related searches on the site each day, most
of which come around 4 p.m., Brown said.
Yahoo Food aims to hold people's attention after
they have found a recipe by offering cooking demonstration
videos and lavish photography and layout that
Brown refers to as "food pornography."
Brown co-founded Epicurious, one of the earliest
food Web sites, which is owned by magazine publisher
Conde Nast.
On the Net: http://food.yahoo.com