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YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., photographed Monday afternoon Aug. 10, 2015. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group
YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., photographed Monday afternoon Aug. 10, 2015. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
George Avalos, business reporter, San Jose Mercury News, for his Wordpress profile. (Michael Malone/Bay Area News Group)
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SAN BRUNO — YouTube on Tuesday bought a big office park near its San Bruno headquarters in a major expansion for the video sharing website.

The expansion indicates the likelihood of more hiring to bolster its quest to provide alternative programs to traditional movie and television media.

“This deal indicates the belief that digital media and new digital content, as opposed to movie and TV studio content, is where entertainment and information is heading,” said Chris Shipley, a Redwood City-based independent analyst and consultant for the innovation and media sectors.

Potentially 2,500 to 2,800 YouTube employees could work at the complex, which totals 554,000 square feet.

“YouTube is staffing up to make a real run at the opportunities that Netflix and Amazon are going after,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with Oregon-based Enderle Group, which tracks technology.

The deal also shows that Silicon Valley companies continue to scout for big office spaces to accommodate their remarkable expansion in the region.

YouTube paid $215 million in cash for Bayhill Office Center near the corner of El Camino Real and Interstate 380 in San Bruno.

“Our sale of Bayhill Office Center highlights continued strong demand from the world’s leading technology companies for high-quality office space along the Peninsula,” said Victor Coleman, chief executive officer of Hudson Pacific Properties.

San Bruno-based YouTube was founded in 2005 and in 2006 was bought by Mountain View-based Google, which now is owned by technology conglomerate Alphabet.

“YouTube is dominant today and is the No. 1 video destination,” said Michael Tchong, founder of Social Revolution, which covers tech. “There are a lot of digital companies challenging the TV networks and movie studios, and YouTube can become one of those.”

Plus, the video company can benefit by being owned by Google owner Alphabet, which wields great influence in technology and has deep pockets to bring to the battle.

“YouTube is one of the most successful acquisitions that Google has made,” Enderle said. “Google’s goal is to make YouTube a far more disruptive influence like Netflix and Amazon Prime. YouTube has been very aggressive in obtaining independent content.”

It could make perfect sense for digital titans to become part of the video content universe.

“Incursions are being made in the TV networks and movie studio models,” Tchong said. “We have a world of a few big TV networks, so why can’t we have a world of a few big Internet networks?”

Experts believe that the upheaval in digital content will only intensify.

“Where media is concerned, we are in a period of frantic experimentation,” Shipley said. “YouTube appears to be all in on that experimentation.”

Contact George Avalos at 408-859-5167. Follow him at Twitter.com/georgeavalos.