Online Boxing Shows Via Yahoo & The Contender

The Mark Burnett production, The Contender has partnered with Yahoo! to offer a series of on-line only boxing matches to paid subscribers on May 24th.  The fights that air online will be completely separate content from the TV show.

Viewers of the show can vote for the boxers they want to see fight in three professionally sanctioned bouts. Voting for the boxers will end at midnight Pacific time on May 15 with the final match-ups announced later that week. Toyota Motor Sales USA and Intel have signed up as advertisers for the online-only show.

"This unique event marks a major milestone in the development of entertainment content for an online audience," says Jim Moloshok, senior vice president, entertainment and content acquisition, Yahoo!

Could this be the start of a wider trend: will we see other television shows doing online-only spin-offs or one-time events?  Imagine if a major brand sponsored a mini-one-off-series of Friends to be shown exclusively through a major ISP?  What if a current popular show aired its seasons-end through AOL or MSN?

Watch this space…

iMediaConnection Article