YouTube is a lot like the current U.S. economy. The powers that be are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it in an effort to make it work. Last week, it was the idea of making YouTube an e-commerce destination by adding click-to-buy. This week, it’s adding full-length TV shows sprinkled with 15-second ads.
Through an agreement with CBS, YouTube announced on its blog that it will offer episodes of such CBS favorites as Beverly Hills 90210, Star Trek and MacGyver. The episodes will feature YouTube’s new “Theater View” style, which aims to make watching full-length shows on your computer a bit easier on your eyes (a far cry from the grainy, user-generated clips YouTube is most known for). The new format also features a new ad scheme. According to the blog:
“As we test this new format, we also want to ensure that our partners have more options when it comes to advertising on their full-length TV shows. You may see in-stream video ads (including pre-, mid- and post-rolls) embedded in some of these episodes; this advertising format will only appear on premium content where you are most comfortable seeing such ads. In order to make this clear to you, we’ve labeled all full-length videos with a Film Strip symbol, so you’ll know exactly what kind of content you’re choosing to watch and what ads you might see.”
The new service is available only in the U.S. and so far, only offers older, less popular fare (so no CSI as of yet). And it’s not unique, in that video-sharing site Hulu has been offering full-length shows from Fox, NBC and CBS for a while. But CBS is probably looking to tap YouTube’s larger audience of 330 million viewers, compared with Hulu’s 3.3 million. While Google has yet to hit on the winning formula for making money from YouTube, at least it’s trying just about anything. And just like the Fed, it’s hoping that some combination of schemes will work.
