YouTube Offers Full-Length CBS Shows

Haven't seen enough of the original Star Trek? How about the original 90210? Or MacGyver? Or current episodes of Dexter or the Young and the Restless?

Google has started cranking up its efforts to actually make some money from the most popular video sharing site on the Internet—YouTube. Last week it began adding links to music available via iTunes and Amazon’s MP3 store so users could get “instant gratification” by buying music featured in a video or posting. Now, the video sharing site is starting to get into bed with traditional media, and has begun offering full-length versions of selected archive CBS television shows. Although many TV networks—including CBS—post short clips to YouTube, the episodes mark the first time full-length programming has been made available on the site. The move begins to put YouTube into direct competition with services like Hulu, which offers ad-supported full-length versions of both current and archive shows from NBC and Fox.

The full-length shows are displayed with a unique badge to distinguish them from short-form content…and the full-length shows use a new YouTube player that offers a full-screen 16:9 “theater mode” for improved onscreen viewing. The shows are also supported by embedded advertising, including pre-roll ads that cannot be skipped or paused. According to YouTube, CBS is responsible for selling advertisements that appear in YouTube versions of the shows, but both companies will share in the revenue.

Industry watchers have been waiting—for almost two years—to see how Google would justify its $1.65 billion buy of YouTube. The latest monetization strategies may seem like small steps to advertisers, who would love to target YouTube’s estimated 330 million-strong user base with all manner of advertising. But, even as a newcomer to full-length TV content, YouTube is still the big gorilla in the room: Hulu.com, which offers significant embedded advertising, only reached about one percent as many people.