Yahoo Inks Video Content And Ad Targeting Deal With Starcom

In the deal announced today, Yahoo and Publicis Groupe’s Starcom division will work together to develop and target unique video content for Starcom’s brand clients on Yahoo properties. Starcom will have access to Yahoo’s trove of search data to inform the types of content that resonates with consumers based on their own brands’ data.

In addition to Yahoo’s data and development resources, Starcom will also receive exclusive measurement and reporting on the video units, according to the announcement:

Yahoo and Starcom will use viewership data as well as brands’ audience data to create and target video content based on the topics we know are resonating with consumers, spanning categories like comedy, entertainment, finance, sports, health and wellness. Together with Starcom, Yahoo will deliver video ad experiences that actively seek out the most engaged audiences and provide better measurement on the impact for brands.

Starcom clients Allstate, Kraft, Kellogg’s, Hallmark, and Jim Beam are listed as potential launch partners for the new premium video ad opportunities.

“What is unique is how we are bringing our data and ad technology together to create video ad opportunities and personalized targeting that Starcom’s clients want most,” said Ned Brody, Head of Americas at Yahoo.

In its third quarter earnings, Yahoo reported a 20 percent increase in monthly unique visitors to 800 million since Marissa Mayer came on as CEO. Terms of the Starcom deal weren’t announced, but this level of agency partnership that focuses on premium content could help Yahoo garner the higher ad rates it has struggled to attract.

Yahoo’s Brody told AdAge that Yahoo is working on other deals agencies “around different pieces of our integrated ad offering”.