Yahoo! recently announced that it will be hosting its first online U.S. Presidential debate. Much like the debates hosted on Google’s Youtube, these debates will feature eight democratic presidential candidates, including Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. However, unlike the Youtube debates, this broadcast will be available only online. Viewers will be given the opportunity to submit video questions via the web, from which a select few will be presented to the candidates. Viewers can also filter content to hear only one candidate. Yahoo! reports this will all be available in real time.

Yahoo! will be hosting the event along with co-sponsors Slate and The Huffington Post.

As Bloomberg reports, these debates signify a turning point for Yahoo!’s online video capabilities. By the end of year, the company plans to completely revamp its offerings, adding music videos, movie trailers, television shows, and sports highlights as well as content created by internet users.

As Mike Folgner, Yahoo’s general manager for video attests,

“One of our strategies is to put video everywhere you are on the Internet…We’re going to build a much better destination for you to access all this different content.”

Given YouTube’s obvious competitive edge in online video, the debates will give Yahoo’s new video services much needed visibility.   Perhaps more interesting,  however, will be watching if and how the candidates implement online marketing practices to help control the conversation.   The speed at which the debate will escalate – both within Yahoo video, and elsewhere – could prove overwhelming for candidates that neglect to properly utilize search and social media marketing.  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 5:43 pm and is filed under Google, Search: Video, Yahoo!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.