The cast of “Community,” pictured, returned for a sixth season on Yahoo. The
Yahoo has axed its on-demand streaming service Yahoo Screen after just over two years, Mashable has confirmed.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based tech company launched a revamped Screen in 2013 in hopes of competing with other streaming giants in the industry. It began adding originals in 2014. The platform featured 1,000 hours of content, everything from Saturday Night Live clips to a slate of original programs, including the sixth season of the former NBC comedy Community.
SEE ALSO: Yahoo Is Trying Original Series, Starts With Paul Feig Space Comedy
“At Yahoo, we’re constantly reviewing and iterating on our products as we strive to create the best user experience,” a Yahoo spokesperson said in an email statement sent to Mashable. “With that in mind, video content from Yahoo as well as our partners has been transitioned from Yahoo Screen to our Digital Magazine properties so users can discover complementary content in one place.”
Now, people who go to Yahoo Screen’s website (https://screen.yahoo.com/) are redirected to the Yahoo homepage. On Twitter, followers of Yahoo Screen are also told to go to the main Yahoo social media page. The account’s most recent tweet was from Dec. 30, 2105.
The news is yet another blow to the tech company, with the platform’s abrupt — and somewhat hidden — end following a shaky 2015 for the company.
Since taking on the reigns in 2012, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has pushed to expand the tech company’s entertainment offerings, but it hasn’t been paying off.
She hired anchor Katie Couric — who reportedly has a $10 million salary — to conduct interviews as as global news anchor of Yahoo. But the major interviews — which range from politicians like Sen. Lindsey Graham to YouTube stars at VidCon — haven’t drawn in big numbers or much buzz. The Wall Street Journal estimated the revenue Yahoo generated from Couric’s videos would still only account for about $3 million.
Kathy Savitt, who Mayer tapped as Yahoo’s media and marketing chief, left the company in September of 2015 for an executive role at studio STX Entertainment.
Last spring, Yahoo posted weak earnings (a loss of about 93%). In Q2, the company beat revenue expectations, but analysts and investors remained wary of the media company’s fate.
Part of the problem: Yahoo’s failed original content efforts. The digital video portal was largely failing to find audiences and as a result web traffic reportedly kept declining. According to data provided to Mashable by ComScore, Yahoo Screen’s U.S. multi-platform unique visitors fell from 20,053 in February of 2013 to 14,999 in November of 2015. The platform saw a surge in viewership in May — just a few months after Community’s March debut — but quickly fell again in June.
In October, Yahoo revealed it lost $42 million on Community and two other original series Sin City Saints and Other Space.
“We thought long and hard about it, and what we concluded is [for] certain of our original video [series], we couldn’t see a way to make money over time,” CFO Ken Goldman said in the Q3 earnings call.
As of Monday afternoon, shares of Yahoo are currently at $31.35, down about 5.7%.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!