Yahoo! UK & Ireland today announces an exclusive deal with Pop Idol creators 19 Entertainment and their co-producers Thames Television to develop and broadcast 'The Yahoo! Pop Idol Diaries' on Yahoo! UK & Ireland. The deal is the first to be negotiated by Editorial Director, Peter Grimsdale, who joined Yahoo! from Channel 4 in July this year and is a significant step towards further expanding Yahoo!'s youth content.

Filmed entirely away from the studio and ITV1 cameras, Yahoo! will be showing their users what it is really like to be in the final of one of the UK's biggest and most watched talent competitions. The Pop Idol diaries will be edited and screened on Yahoo! (yahoo.co.uk/popidoldiaries), which can be accessed free by Pop Idol's 10 million ITV viewers and Yahoo! UK & Ireland's existing unique user base of over 13m.

Over the next 8 weeks, Yahoo! users will be able to follow the last 10 contestants as they battle it out to be this year's winner of Pop Idol. Content will be archived throughout the final rounds of the competition for users to log back on and watch their favourite Pop Idol in action - even when they are missing from the big screen. The Yahoo! Pop Idol Diaries will exploit the interactive potential of the web allowing user interaction and audience requested content.

This deal forms part of Yahoo!'s ongoing commitment to provide compelling, interactive content and follows several high-profile launches highlighting excellence in content and targeting youth audiences, including the recent strategic BT Yahoo! alliance, the arrival of the Launch music site and the earlier launch of Yahoo! Mobile.

Managing Director for Yahoo! UK & Ireland, Fru Hazlitt, said: "Screening the exclusive Pop Idol footage represents our ongoing commitment to offer content that engages with, and exceeds the expectations of all our audiences. Naturally, the Yahoo! Pop Idol Diaries will be targeted at youth audiences and marks the start of similar content partnerships to enhance and develop our full media offering as well attracting a quality audience for our advertisers and creating a rich media online experience."