From: CNet.com —
Video steaming giant YouTube has closed a deal with at least one major movie studio to offer its feature-length films online and is courting other film distributors.
As CNet’s Greg Sandoval reports, “To be sure, not all the studios are prepared to give YouTube full-length movies. [However,] Canadian film company Lionsgate agreed in July to give YouTube access to only short movie clips. At least one other studio is trying to cut a similar deal for short-form content with Google.â€
Whether YouTube attracts other major Hollywood studios may depend on what kind of deal it’s willing to offer on placement of ads in and around the films it offers:
“There’s skepticism in some circles about whether enough ads can be placed into a streaming movie to make it profitable without also overloading viewers with commercials.â€
YouTube’s move into feature-length content places it head-to-head with Hulu, which specializes in full-length content and is backed by NBC Universal and News Corp. Currently, the relatively new Hulu attracts only a small fraction of the users enjoyed by the iconic YouTube.