YouTube works with Hollywood agency for new content

YouTube's video profile is set to expand, following a deal with the William Morris Agency. At its core, the agreement would see more content that doesn't make it to prime time television or movie screens released on YouTube. Some frustration has developed with William Morris, along with YouTube, over a lack of newer and fresher content available. Even with ad-supported videos, big media giants have been reluctant to release much on the video sharing site, for a variety of reasons.

The benefit for YouTube is to get more “premium” content, which allows them to ultimately generate more advertising revenue. Ad-generated revenue on YouTube is lower than what Google expects, primarily because the majority of videos on YouTube are submitted by individuals, not by companies. This William Morris deal could result in “made for YouTube” videos with professional actors, an attractive beacon for the service and a way for money to be generated through ads. This is all around good news for YouTube, and I expect that we'll see only more of this in the future, though hopefully not at the expense of what made the site popular in the first place: user generated content.

Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/33434-youtube-works-with-hollywood-agency-for-new-content.html

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YouTube tries out downloadable videos

Users have long been able to use third party applications to grab content from YouTube, instead of just streaming it, but apparently the popular video sharing site is now embracing the idea of downloadable content itself. Just don’t expect to start downloading all your favorite clips just yet, as only a few political videos have the new download option for now.

Specifically, the “Weekly Address” videos on President-elect Barack Obama’s YouTube page now sport a “Click to download” link below the play button, which gives users a full-quality H.264 file. If and how this feature will expand remains to be seen, but of course Google Video has provided this feature for a while now, and following Google’s recent decision to end user uploads maybe this option will soon be available on YouTube as a standard publishing feature for those who enable it on their clips.

Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/33252-youtube-tries-out-downloadable-videos.html

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YouTube comes to gaming consoles, but not Xbox 360

Google’s popular video sharing site YouTube has already made its way into Apple TV and TiVo devices, but the internet giant is looking to invade even more living rooms with a revamped version of YouTube for Television, a feature announced last summer and highlighted recently at CES which is now available via Wii and PS3 game consoles.

By visiting www.youtube.com/tv from either console, users can view a streamlined version of the site that makes it easier to browse and search through videos. The interface has bigger text and simplified navigation tools, videos can be set to go full-screen by default and there’s an auto-play option that enables users to view related videos sequentially. Check out a video demo pulled from the Sony PlayStation blog, after the jump.

Google says it hopes to expand the number of TV-connected devices capable of supporting YouTube viewing, though notably absent from that list will be the Xbox 360, due of course to its lack of a browser.

Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/33230-youtube-comes-to-gaming-consoles-but-not-xbox-360.html

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