You Tube is testing out some long form video. Its added several episodes of Star Trek, Beverly Hils 90210, and MacGyver in a very “tech-geek” influence choice of programming. Similar to other online streaming video, the episodes will have pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads.
Now I’m not terribly surprised by this move, you knew they could never make a decent dollar on user generated content. Advertisers avoid this like the plague. I do find this interesting for several reasons:
- Google has been testing out digital TV advertising and reporting via Dish Network. Obviously, this is the next extension of that
- The obvious popularity of watching video online and the digital convergence of over the air and digital TV. The fairly strong debut of Hulu, the joint venture from NBC and 20th Century Fox Studios, along with Joost is proving this out.
- The challenges they have had in finding a viable revenue stream for YouTube.
If this ends up working, then the implications of this are wide and deep. Google has been dabbling in original content partnerhsips and I am sure this may give them some leverage in dealing with the studios.