Yahoo! Launches Premiership Highlights Package in the UK

In light of the success of Yahoo!'s partnership with David Beckham during the World Cup in South Africa, the search engine company has began its offering of Barclay's Premier League highlights on the UK site. Bite-sized summaries (5mins) of every game will be available for viewing, and will be a prominent feature of the site until at least the end of the 2012/2013 season.

The new partnership with the English Premiership has rendered Yahoo! one of the largest high-quality video directories in the country, with sponsorship deals having been secured with the likes of Adidas, Sony, Heineken, and BT.

The strategy is to show weekend match highlights on the Monday morning, whilst Monday night football will appear online after midnight on Tuesday morning. In addition to the game highlights, fans can also access bonus packages such as 'Best Goals, 'Tactical Debate', and 'Team of the Week'.

With Yahoo!'s reputation as one of the most heavily trafficked Internet destination, this is a highly lucrative deal for the Barclay's Premier League, as well as a welcome addition to the site for football fans across the nation. For Yahoo!, the launch of the highlights service will attract even more visitors, as well as increasing its ability to retain visitors, who no longer have to look elsewhere to fulfil their footballing needs.

As of 02/08/2010 Yahoo! Video was the 7th most popular video site worldwide according to eBiz statistics, with an estimated 16 million unique monthly visitors. The latest addition to its video services will see this number rise over the football season.

It is not just Yahoo! who stand to gain from this deal however; as they own the rights in the UK to syndicate all or a segment of the highlights material to other, third party websites.

When viewing the highlights, users can also read expert blogs, leave comments, and share the video content with friends. For search engine optimisation purposes, all these elements are hugely beneficial. By allowing for constant updates of the site content by both fans and experts, as well as providing the means for content sharing to other sites, Yahoo! has laid the foundations for a significant flow of traffic to the site.

Yahoo! have also invested in a multi-million pound marketing campaign to attract new audiences and promote the new association of the company with the Barclay's Premier League. By running a digital campaign in tandem with radio advertising, Yahoo! hope to reach a wide range of football fans, and draw in the crowds to their latest offering.