Yahoo won’t be competing with Netflix anytime soon.
During its fourth quarter earnings call, Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman noted that the company wrote off $42 million in expenses related to the sixth season of Community, as well as for its two original programs: Sin City Saints and Other Space.
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Creating original content is a costly endeavor. Plus, with well-established players like HBO, Netflix, and Showtime offering competitively priced packages, it’s hard to convince users to pay for alternative content. That’s likely why Amazon gives its content away for free to Prime subscribers.
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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has said that the company plans to focus on fewer, higher-quality products going forward. For its video content platform, Yahoo Screen, that may mean focusing on more live events coverage, capitalizing on its streaming deals with the NFL and Live Nation.
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