I vaguely remember a show from Simon Cowell called Ultimate DJ, which would be an EDM competition between DJs. It appears that it languished without a distributor, until Yahoo decided to get into the reality show business.
According to Ad Age:
Yahoo plans to premiere a new reality series this year produced by former “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In a spin on Mr. Cowell’s previous series, the show with Yahoo will have electronic dance music DJs compete to be voted the best one.
A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment.
Mr. Cowell and EDM-centric production company SFX Entertainment had announced the series last year but had yet to sign a distribution deal. At the time the show was to be called “Ultimate DJ” and would start as an online competition that has the DJs post songs and earn votes and then the show would follow with live performances.
According to people briefed on Yahoo’s plans, the show will mix pre-recorded and live segments and is expected to air weekly once it premieres on Yahoo Screen. It’s unclear whether Yahoo will ask people to vote for their favorite DJs through Tumblr, though the people speculated that would be the case.
The show appears to be targeted at those supposedly YouTube loving millennials. “This type of show would seem to appeal to people who go out clubbing and feel more comfortable cutting the cord and using over-the-top services,” said Horizon Media Senior VP-Research Brad Adgate.
Yahoo currently has a revival of the broadcast comedy, Community, on the way. There are also a couple of original half-hour comedies in the pipeline.
Simon has taken a shot at online programming before. Remember his online competition The You Generation for YouTube in 2012? It attracted more than 767,000 subscribers and 48 million views but hasn’t posted a new video in nine months.
