Yahoo has updated and rebranded its online video site, as the online media firm looks to take on Hulu and YouTube in the video-on-demand market.
Yahoo Screen functions as a hub where users can watch thousands of original and licensed video clips that used to be scattered across Yahoo’s content network.
A group of human editors is hand-culling the material into distinct channels that include both snippets as well as complete television shows, like Modern Family and CSI, and shows from over 70 online sites, like Funny or Die and Break Media.
In addition to the revamped video hub, Yahoo announced that it would be adding eight new original programs, all aimed at women.
Yahoo Screen is currently only available on laptops and desktops, but the company is planning on launching a service on mobile devices in the near future.
The move is part of Yahoo’s ongoing effort to make its content easier to consume and be recognized as the “premier digital media company’ that will make advertising on Yahoo more attractive to brands.
The announcement follows news Monday that Yahoo will be partnering with ABC to feature more ABC content on the Yahoo network and to work jointly on producing original programming for Yahoo.
Both announcements come during New York’s Advertising Week, when media companies jostle for attention from advertisers.
The move comes as Yahoo has yet to name a new CEO after unceremoniously firing Carol Bartz last month. There are rumors that private equity firms are considering making offers for the company. And on Friday, Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba, in which Yahoo has a 40 percent stake, told a group of Stanford University students that he would be “very interested” in acquiring the company.
