LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Yahoo is teaming up with radio station giant Clear Channel, expanding on its strategy to offer exclusive content to counter Facebook and Google in the competition for Internet advertising dollars.
The company said late Wednesday that, as part of the deal, it will provide exclusive live video of this year's iHeart Radio Music Festival, which is sponsored by Clear Channel's fledgling online music service. It also plans to carry nearly a dozen live events annually put on by Clear Channel.
Yahoo Inc. has cut similar deals with ABC News and CNBC to give prominence to stories from those providers on its websites while producing original video that it aims to sell to advertisers for a premium. Such jointly-produced content is meant to appear on the website and promoted on TV. The deal with Clear Channel means content that Yahoo helps produce will also be promoted on Clear Channel's 850 radio stations nationwide.
The moves are part of Yahoo's push to move beyond being just a Web portal. The company hopes to become a media company that produces content and captures a bigger share of the display and video ad market.
Mickie Rosen, senior vice president of Yahoo Media Network, said the aim of such partnerships is to create content that "is more premium than repackaged content that's ubiquitous on the Web."
At the same time, Rosen noted, the company still needs to maintain its regular relationships with news organizations that help it reach about 167 million users in the U.S. each month.
