We mentioned last year about Yahoo’s moves into developing mini-sites around specific brands which can develop communities of interest around them. now Yahoo has announced some more details in a press junket at Sunnyvale, picked up by ClickZ. The idea is: Branded Universes will collect the various media within the Yahoo network at a single location focused on a brand selected by Yahoo.
It has selected the first six of the supposed 100 it plans: video games “The Sims” and “Halo,” TV shows “Lost” and “The Office,” and franchises Harry Potter and Transformers. Interestingly, Yahoo is not allowing marketers a voice in this, nor seeking licensing for the content. It will not try to monetize these sections until a later date, the company said.
NYTimes: Vince Broady, head of games, entertainment and youth at Yahoo acknowledged that there could be tensions with some content owners who were trying to create online destinations of their own. The company said it did not plan to ask permission from the owners before creating the sites, but would not proceed if the owners objected.
Like much of Yahoo, the Brand Universe sites will be supported by advertising, and Yahoo said it would discuss various ways to share revenue with the brand owners.