Katie Couric’s career has spanned some of the most hallowed institutions of television journalism: Dateline NBC, 20/20, CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes.
As Yahoo’s global news anchor, she now shifts into the growing, but raw, world of online video. Web 3.0, Couric’s new series, starts on Tuesday. Her other one, Now I Get It, is also in the works.
But don’t call it a show. Those days have been left behind.
“I wouldn’t call it a show. It’s really sort of a digital series,” Couric said. “I think at some point down the road there may be a show per say, but right now these are interviews, profiles I’m going to be doing primarily.”
Her first interview with Airbnb cofounder Brian Chesky, a person who has not sat down for many one-on-one talks with journalists, airs on Tuesday.
It’s an example of Couric’s new mission — to bring her experience as a journalist and familiarity with audiences to stories that are undercovered by the evening news.
“Maybe it’s a little off the beaten path or maybe it’s a little bit longer,” Couric told Mashable. “Or maybe it’s an area that might not be conducive for a morning show, but it’s areas that I think are important and worthwhile and that people want to learn more about.”
It has been more than six months since Couric joined Yahoo, which added other high-profile journalists David Pogue, Matt Bai and Megan Liberman in rapid succession. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has publicly discussed her vision of creating more original content and “doing fewer things that we think are bigger and have a better chance of success.”
Couric is one of those few things that Yahoo has gone big on. She will reportedly make $6 million per year — a big step down from her network contracts but the kind of money not usually committed to a digital anchor.
Yahoo may be struggling in some ways, but it is not short on cash thanks to its sizable stake in Chinese e-commerce retailer Alibaba.
It’s a runway that has allowed Mayer to bring in Couric and let her focus on quality and avoid going for easy traffic.
“I think that Marissa is really interested in quality content, not necessarily the boy who survived for 13 years on ramen noodles,” Couric said.
Couric’s name recognition and Yahoo’s stellar traffic numbers are a potent combination, but success is not assured. The anchor struggled to gain traction with her talk show Katie, which suffered from low ratings despite a large budget.
More recently, reports have emerged that not everyone inside of Yahoo is convinced that Couric is right for the job. Business Insider spoke to sources that quested her digital transition. The New York Daily News reported that there is some concern about the sources she’s landing for interviews.
Kathy Savitt, head of media and marketing at Yahoo, told Mashable in an email that the company believes in Couric’s experience as a journalism pioneer.
“Katie has always been a trailblazer — the first woman to anchor an evening news program solo, and now the first major television journalist to make the digital leap. We are thrilled to have her incredible expertise and legacy of innovation at Yahoo as we expand our original programming,” Savitt wrote.
Couric said the shift to online video is a learning process, but that she has faith that the content she and Yahoo are committed to will win out.
“All we can do is the best quality of material we can. I’m not going to go for gimmicks,” she said. “I hope that if content is king, quality is even more important.”
“A lot of this is going to be trial and error and I don’t profess to have all the answers,” she said. “I’m a content person. I’m endlessly curious about a lot of different topics and I’m just excited to talk to people that are doing great things in the world and I think there’s a real appetite for that as well.”
UPDATE June 3, 2014, 3:30 p.m. EST This piece was updated with a quote from Yahoo CMO Kathy Savitt.
Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/06/03/katie-couric-yahoo/
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