Report: Katie Couric set to leave ABC for Yahoo

Landing Couric would be a huge get for the company, which is emphasizing original content and video

It looks like all of Marissa Mayer's efforts to not only make Yahoo into a cool company again, but one that develops its own content as well, have paid off. In a big way.

The Internet giant might have just landed one of the biggest names in television journalism: Katie Couric, according to a report from the Hollywood Reporter on Friday.

Couric, as some of you may know, actually already has a job: her daytime talk show on ABC, which is in its second season. The deal for that show was $40 million, and since Couric is exiting early, it is a safe bet that Yahoo plunked down quite a bit of cash to land her (not that Yahoo has had any qualms aboutspending a whole lot of money before).

As for her role at the company if/when Yahoo officially signs her, it will most likely be exclusive content that will appear on Yahoo's homepage. Couric and Yahoo already have a bit of a relationship, as featured clips from her soon to be defunct ABC show appeared on the site as "Katie's Take."

None of this is official yet, but a statement from an executive at ABC to the Hollywood Reporter pretty much confirmed that Couric would be leaving the network.

“Katie is an incredible journalist and this was an opportunity that she couldn’t pass up.  Thanks to the powerful association between ABC News and Yahoo we know that Katie will continue to work closely with us and welcome her on our air anytime," they said.

VatorNews has reached out to Yahoo for confirmation, and for any further details of what her role

Getting Katie Couric is obviously a big deal for Yahoo. And it is the culmination of Mayer's plan to infuse Yahoo with original content, especially when it comes to video.

The site has recently begun hiring some well-known media figures and journalists.

In September, Yahoo brought in Megan Liberman, deputy news editor of The New York Times, as its editor-in-chief. 

In October, Yahoo hired 13-year New York Times veteran David Pogue for a new consumer tech site. Then earlier this month it brought in Matt Bai, chief political correspondent for the New York Times Magazine as its national political columnist, and hired 

Obviously all three of these hires bring creditability to Yahoo's journalism and original content. But what Couric brings is even more important to Yahoo: years and years of broadcast experience.

Yahoo's video strategy

Mayer has been putting a heavy emphasis on expanding Yahoo's video content, both original and non-original.

Earlier this year the company struck a deal with Broadway Video to exclusively stream 38 years of archived Saturday Night Live footage, then made a deal with Viacom to deliver clips from Comedy Central shows, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.

As for original series, they include Burning Love, which is set to debut on the E! Network, Ghost Ghirls, which stars Jack Black and Losing It With John Stamos.

Yahoo also released Yahoo Screen, a video-streaming app built for iOS, in September to give users a way to find all of this video content.

The app turns smartphones and tablet computers into something akin to a TV remote control. Users can flip through programs and sort through around 20 different channels, which separated into categories such as celebrities, sports, games and food, simply with their fingers.

“Expect to see us making investments in video over the next year,” Mayer said in a conference call following the company's earning report in July.

The company's video strategy has recently taken a bit of a hit, with the departure of two important executives. Micke Rosen, the company's media head, left in July, and Erin McPherson, Yahoo's Head of Video, left to join Maker Studios as its chief content officer earlier this month. 

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