My name is Frank Nicotero, and I’m a comedian and the host of a WILDLY popular short-form program on the Web – if I do say so myself – called Primetime in No Time on Yahoo! TV.  The show, otherwise known as PiNT (’cause who doesn’t enjoy a good booze reference) recaps the best watercooler moments from the previous night in all of three minutes.  See, I stay up late watching Jimmy Fallon attempt comedy and Spencer and Heidi attempt dramedy so that you can be the king or queen of morning kitchen conversation without going through the trouble of watching it all.

It’s been less than two years since we launched this show, so you can imagine my astonishment when we surpassed over 280 million streams and became the most watched show in the history of the internet.  As a longtime comedian and TV host, I was used to going it alone onstage and was content to continue doing so as the one and only host of the one and only original program on Yahoo! TV, but a partner in crime would be so much cooler!   Enter my fearless counterpart, Nikki Boyer, and Daytime in No Time on Yahoo! TV, a show recapping – you guessed it – the best moments of daytime TV.  Really, what is a conversation around the company coffee pot without all the daytime TV details to gossip about too?!  Nikki and I quickly ruled the roost over here at Yahoo! TV.  We got matching mugs and took all our lunch breaks together (ok, actually, we tape at different times, but we would if we could), and before we knew it, we learned our twosome would become a foursome.

The tribe had spoken; Yahoo! TV decided that you the viewers should get a say in the best moments of the week in television. What a great concept, huh?!
My newest friends, and hosts of the recently launched interactive show What’s So Funny? on Yahoo! TV, Shira Lazar and Mike Bachmann, debate the absolute funniest clips on TV from the day prior in a he said, she said format.

She of CBSNEWS.com, Reelz Channel and The Tomorrow Show with Mo Rocca fame, amongst many other hosting gigs, and he of ABC Family’s hit “Make it or Break it,” guest starring gigs on Gilmore Girls and Ugly Betty and my personal favorite – a writer for PiNT.  Monday through Friday these seasoned vets engage in friendly banter regarding the merits of the clip each has chosen from the previous day, but viewers get to make the ultimate decision by casting in votes.  Over the weekend, Shira and Mike reveal the winning clip from each night and present the “Top 5 Funniest Clips of the Week,” as selected by Yahoo! viewers.

It’s a great show, and I must say, I’m so proud to see the family growing. So “suit up,” enjoy the ride and welcome to the team, Shira and Mike, and just remember, I like my coffee with two sugars and creamJ  You know you love me.

xoxo,
Papa Frank Nicotero

The great American love affair with award shows may be ending. That’s the conclusion you might draw after looking at recent television ratings for shows like the Emmys, SAG Awards, and Golden Globe awards. But what’s really at play is that, like with other forms of media, the Internet is starting to steal the show.

Rather than sitting through hours of pomp and circumstance, more American entertainment lovers seem to be heading online to get their fix. Most likely it’s because they can catch the evening’s highlights — teary speeches, Adrien Brody’s fiery kiss, Roberto Benigni’s giddiness, Letterman’s Uma-Oprah tension, the Gold Amex dress — on demand for their water cooler discussions.

Let’s check out the numbers. The 2008 Emmy Awards averaged 12.2 million viewers, down 6% and the lowest ratings ever for an Emmy telecast. Yet the day after the awards, 4.6 million people flocked to Yahoo! TV and generated 103 million page views (nearly doubled year over year). This year’s SAG Awards drew the smallest audience since TBS and TNT began airing them together in 2006 –- with 5.3 million viewers, down 12% from 2007. The next day, 4.1 million people flooded Yahoo! Movies for its best and worst dressed gallery and checked out 83 million pages. And although the 3-hour Golden Globes won a coveted Sunday night time slot, this year’s star-studded telecast drew the lowest ratings in 13 years –- 14.6 million viewers, down from 20 million the year before. The next day, 7.2 million people descended on omg!, taking in an average of about 40 page views per person, driven mainly by an insatiable appetite for photos.

So all is not lost — we’re still just as obsessed with celebrities and their red carpet fashion foibles. Possibly more so than ever. But we’re just turning to a different screen to view it — during and after the show. So don’t cancel your Oscars party on Sunday. Just make sure you have a laptop next to the popcorn.

Sibyl Goldman
GM, Yahoo! Entertainment

Thirty-nine years ago today, the Cardinals and Bruins set aside all rivalry when computer scientists at Stanford and UCLA created the first permanent link between their two shiny new ARPAnet routers — paving the way for modern networked computing and eventually the means for all of your tweets, pokes, LOLcats, and smileys. Here’s what we hooked you up with this week:

• T-Mobile triumph: If you’re a T-Mobile subscriber in the U.S., you’ll be spending a whole lot less time trying to find things with your mobile phone. That’s because Yahoo! oneSearch is now the default mobile search for T-Mobile’s new web2go service, serving up search results designed specifically for your cell phone. After all, it’s an awfully small screen and wading through a sea of links is downright irritating. More here.
• Sticky search: Faithful Product Pulse readers will remember when we unveiled Glue Pages in India, an experimental concept for search that sticks text, images, and video content together into a single results page. It’s now a U.S. import, available as a slightly different experience as Yahoo! Glue beta. It assembles content from across the Web into a veritable microsite about your query. Topics are limited for now (we’ll expand over time), but go check out how it handles popular people, places and things like cupcakes, Sarah Palin, Twilight, and Citigroup. More here.
• Feel-good news: Recession, deflation, layoffs, bank meltdowns. C’mon, isn’t there some good news out there? Why, yes, there is. And the good people at Sears want to make sure you see it. Head to Good News Now, a new video channel on Yahoo! News that sees the world through rose-colored glasses — spotlighting strictly uplifting stories in the news. You’ll find profiles of heroes, medical triumphs, baby Obamas, charitable neighbors, natural disaster survivors, and more. The channel will run through New Year’s. Maybe headlines will improve by January?
• Britney, Britney, Britney: Whether you’re a tabloid subscriber or just read copies at the dentist’s office, you’re all too familiar with the world’s fascination with Britney Spears. Well, the volume increases on Monday, when Yahoo! TV will premiere the exclusive trailer of MTV’s upcoming documentary, “Britney: For the Record.” Then we’ll spend the rest of the week gearing you up for Britney’s 27th birthday and the release of her new album “Circus” on December 2, with special coverage across Yahoo!. On Monday, check out “Britney’s 27 Wildest Moments” on Yahoo! Music; Friday, omg will share “Britney’s 25 Most Memorable Looks;” and next Sunday, Shine will take a look at Brit’s relationships. Mark your calendar!
• Big time in no time: And a final note… I’d like to congratulate the team behind Primetime in No Time, the show that gives you a rapid-fire recap of the TV you missed the night before. They’ve just served their 100 millionth stream since launching in March, becoming one of the most successful original programs in the history of the Internet. Hosted by comedian Frank Nicotero, the show is clearly addictive. w00t! More here.

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