By CHRISTOPHER S. STEWART And KEACH HAGEY
Yahoo Inc. unveiled on Wednesday a new Web series starring veteran TV anchor Katie Couric, one of a growing number of television and Hollywood personalities jumping into the online video world.
Ms. Couric will host a weekly program on Yahoo, starting next Tuesday, called "Katie's Take." On the show, Ms. Couric will be doing a lot of what she did first as the co-host of NBC's "Today" morning show and then as a newscaster on the CBS "Evening News": talking about news and social trends, with a particular focus on nutrition, parenting and health. Ms. Couric, who has a new afternoon talk show syndicated by Walt Disney Co's ABC coming this fall, is appearing on Yahoo as part of an agreement between the Web company and ABC.
Ms. Couric's new show was one of a number of new video programs to be detailed by Yahoo on Wednesday afternoon in a presentation for advertisers. Other programs include a talk show starring actor Jeff Goldblum. Yahoo had previously announced that Tom Hanks is starring in a sci-fi series he has created, "Electric City," set to debut in the summer on the Web outlet.
Katie Couric arrives at the Matrix Awards in New York earlier this week.
Yahoo's advertiser presentation followed a similar event staged by AOL Inc. on Tuesday night, another by Hulu LLC last week and precedes one planned by Google Inc.'s YouTube next week. Each has been beefing up its investment in new programming in hopes of attracting more viewers. And by staging the events for advertisers, as TV networks have done for years, online video outlets are hoping to attract more advertising dollars. TV networks hold advertiser presentations in the spring as a prelude to "upfront" ad-sales negotiations for the coming fall season.
Yahoo began to enhance its video programming last fall, launching seven female-oriented shows including a health and lifestyle program, "Reluctantly Healthy." On Wednesday Yahoo announced several men-oriented shows, including one airing the Jeff Goldblum talk show and a demolition program called "Kaboom." Yahoo's renewed emphasis on entertainment comes as the company tries to stage a turnaround under new management.
On Tuesday, AOL, which is struggling to find new sources of ad revenue, used stars including supermodel Heidi Klum and singer-actress Jennifer Lopez to roll out its new video hub, AOL On. It will offer video content across 14 channels -- including food, style, entertainment and travel. "We believe that the future of the Internet is programming," said Ran Harnevo, senior vice president of video at AOL On.
To that end, the company announced an array of original series, including "Fetching," written by "Sex and the City" writer Amy Harris, as well as "Little Women, Big Cars," produced in partnership with Vuguru, an independent studio founded by former Disney chief Michael Eisner. Ms. Lopez is an executive producer of a series aimed at teens that will run on AOL's entertainment channel.
AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong told advertisers that Mr. Eisner was the first executive he called to get advice on AOL's content strategy. The former Disney chief took the stage to preach the gospel of the possibilities for "story-driven content" in the digital space.
Google, which will host its presentation next Wednesday, has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to develop original content for its online channels.
Among the artists, writers, and producers Google has signed, many come from television backgrounds. Michael Hirschorn, for instance, previously was a programming executive at VH1 and now is producing Jay-Z's "Life and Times" channel on YouTube. Ben Silverman, former co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, founded a multimedia studio called Electus which has multiple YouTube channels in the works. One channel expected to launch this year is "Loud," which Electus says will includes stars in "the shows they wish they could be making for TV."
At the Yahoo event at the Florence Gould Hall in New York, Ms. Couric appeared on stage to ask a few "probing" questions. "I hate to get back to the basics," she said to Yahoo's executive vice president Ross Levinsohn, who was standing next to her, "but what the hell is Yahoo!?"
"Thank goodness you didn't ask me what I read!," Mr. Ross joked back, referring to Ms. Couric's famous questioning of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
—John Jannarone contributed to this article.Write to Christopher S. Stewart at christopher.stewart@wsj.com
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