Meteoric online video site YouTube has officially transformed itself from the bane of traditional media companies to a hot distribution platform that blue-chip TV producers want to leverage. According to this scoop in today’s Wall Street Journal, NBC is going to become a big advertiser on YouTube and will even make its content available on the site.
NBC plans to announce that it will make available on YouTube promotional video clips for some of its popular shows, such as “The Office,” “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” NBC plans to market its new fall lineup using clips on YouTube, and is holding a contest for consumers to submit their own promotional videos for “The Office.” It will also buy ads on the site and promote YouTube with mentions on television. That’s a significant step for NBC, which earlier had demanded that YouTube take down clips of its programming.
This is a smart move by NBC and reflects a shift in thinking on the part of the media giant given that nothing has seemed to dim the popularity of YouTube. Despite the network’s initial dismay, YouTube helped revive a tired audience for “Saturday Night Live” when a video of SNL’s skit “Lazy Sunday,” which had been posted on YouTube, turned into a cultural phenomenon among young adults.
In an interesting twist of synchronicity, NBC’s deal with YouTube comes almost on the same day that Time Warner announced its own deal with an online video sharing site, Guba.com. Time Warner, however, isn’t taking the same kind of wild and woolly leap as NBC — the company is selling movies and TV shows via Guba. The movies and shows will be viewable on both PCs and mobile devices.
Among the movies available are Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Everything is Illuminated, as well as catalog titles such as The Matrix, Batman Forever, and Best in Show. TV programming includes Babylon 5, Dukes of Hazzard, The Flintstones and The Jetsons. TV shows sell for $1.99/download, catalog titles sell for $9.99/each and recent releases, which become available on Guba the same day they’re sold via DVD, are $19.99/each.
Guba has gone out of its way to satisfy the studio that the content is sufficiently protected — and only users that rely on Windows Media Technology can play the content.
Update: This AP item about Guba.com makes a very good point about video distribution to young adults, who are, of course, the future.
“Kids in the dorm rooms don’t own TVs,” said Tom McInerney, co-founder and chief executive of Guba. “They’ve got computers and that’s their source of entertainment.”
Cynthia Brumfield at 9:03 AM|Comments(0)
Blogs We Read
