On March 17th, the sixth season of Community will begin on Yahoo Screen, and when it does, viewers will see plenty of ads for Honda cars. The automaker has signed on with Yahoo as the official presenting sponsor of Dan Harmon‘s acclaimed series.
The deal will include pre-roll ads that win run before Community episodes and display ads that will appear across Yahoo. In addition, the Honda CR-V will be integrated into the new season. Since this is the show that once based an entire episode on a character who was a human representative for Subway restaurants, I’m hoping to see some cheeky, self-aware product placement emerge from the Honda deal.
“Community, now on Yahoo Screen, has an incredible and loyal fan following creating the perfect opportunity for us to connect with our audience in a new way across multiple screens,” said Tom Peyton, Assistant Vice President of Marketing for American Honda, in a release. “Working with Yahoo, we’re excited to not only be part of the sixth season of Community, but leverage the maturing world of online video through the distribution of original content.”
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Honda has devoted a lot of its resources to online video advertising. It spent millions on a branded online music channel called Honda Stage, though that project has thus far failed to live up to its billing. More recently, Honda debuted an ingenious interactive ad on YouTube that allowed viewers to seamlessly flip between “night” and “day” sections.
As for Yahoo, the web media company first announced its plan to distribute Community in June 2014, one month after the sitcom had been canceled by NBC. While Community generally struggled ratings-wise during its five season run on TV, it picked up a massive cult following along the way. The show’s official subreddit, for example, has more than 142,000 subscribers, and assuming those fans tune in to the show’s new season, Community will emerge as the most significant original series Yahoo has distributed to date.
More information about the deal between Honda and Yahoo can be found over at AdAge.
