10 June 2010 | Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter

Yahoo! scores exclusive content from football stars

Yahoo! has boosted its association with football by bagging some of the biggest names in the sport to provide content during the high-profile FIFA World Cup.

The internet giant scored the rights to next season's Premier League highlights in April, and is undertaking strategies to make its brand firmly associated with the game - as well as increasing its share of the display advertising market.

New Media Age reports that Yahoo! has signed up football personalities David Beckham, Didier Droga and Arsene Wenger to provide analysis and predictions during the World Cup through articles and videos aggregated through Yahoo! sites. The campaign will extend beyond the end of the World Cup until September, with a shift in focus to raise public awareness of Yahoo!'s online coverage of the next Premier League season.

Yahoo! EMEA VP of marketing, James Tipple, said: "Securing David Beckham's image rights for our advertising was a core part of the deal as he has appeal in both the US and here.

"If you add that he has a huge Asian following, it's key to our global advertising strategy."

Mr Tipple explained that deals such as this will help boost Yahoo!'s global presence as a leading content provider, stating: "When we relaunched our brand last September we said content would be at the core of what we offer. So we need deals like this."

He also said the company will continue to seek out "any relevant deals to bring new content to Yahoo."

Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz recently forecast the company's display advertising revenue to grow between 13 and 16 per cent each year until 2013, however Tipple admits that search ad revenues are still important for Yahoo!'s strategy.

"Search is fundamental to our business, as shown by our search deal with Microsoft," he said.

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