Los Angeles (CA) – Google’s YouTube video streaming site has announced a partnership with Hollywood studios, which will deliver both television shows and movies to United States viewers. Among the partners agreeing to deliver content to the site are CBS, BBC, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lions Gate Entertainment, an independent film studio.
The free to view, ad supported content will be delivered via a “Shows” section on the YouTube landing page, and will be separate from the user-generated content.
YouTube is introducing premium content in an attempt to compete with websites such as Hulu, which offers ad-supported television shows and movies to users. YouTube’s new content will feature older television shows and films, rather than the new content offered by Hulu.
Google was expected to take a hard hit this year due to high costs and low income of YouTube, and the company hopes that YouTube’s addition of premium content will aid in combating this via ad revenue. The company has also introduced Google TV Ads, which will place commercials into television programs which are watched online.
