In efforts to improve its perception as a hotbed for amateur or pirated content, YouTube won a license to run full-length TV shows from CBS Corp.'s archive.
Shows include flashback favorites Star Trek, The Young and the Restless and Beverly Hills 90210. Full-length episodes total between 20 and 40 minutes, and each will include a "badge" to distinguish them from clips. Users can also watch them in "theater" (full-screen) mode.
The deal will pave the way for similar ones between other networks, says Reuters. Many networks and studios — such as Lionsgate — already use the site to disseminate clips. And others, such as ABC and NBC, have begun sydicating shows at no cost on their own websites or destinations like Hulu.com.
A more professional veneer, coupled with traditional media partnerships, will ideally increase the value of YouTube's ad real estate. Google has struggled to monetize the popular network since it acquired YouTube in 2006 — for the optimistic price tag of $1.65 million.
And scoring licensed content deals have been its focus since early 2007. At the time, newcomer Joost — a desktop-based entertainment service — was thought to be a major contender in the TV-to-online industry, sealing deals with both big networks and advertisers.
Hoping to replicate the model on a hosted platform instead of forcing users to download software (as Joost does), Google tried securing a content syndication partnership with CBS in February 2007, promising the network $500 million in ad revenue.
The relationship fell through. Since then, Hulu has succeeded where Google failed. The fruit of a collaboration between Fox and NBC Universal, Hulu syndicates ad-supported, streaming shows and movies from a panoply of networks. Its popularity has inspired networks to commoditize the model: ABC, NBC, CBS and even defunct network The WB now stream fresh shows online, often just 24 hours after they air on television.
Which is why content licensing partnerships aren't Google's only scheme for wringing revenue out of YouTube. Last week it revealed ambitions to wed e-commerce to online video, selling music tracks and video games alongside appropriate content — even amateur material — approved by ad partners.
As a separate project, Google is also experimenting with disseminating sponsored video ad content.
