MGM has announced that it will begin posting full-length movies to YouTube, making it the first major studio to partner with the popular video site for its films. The deal is a landmark one, and will likely open the door to more studios putting full-length content on YouTube if MGM's venture is successful.
MGM has yet to make the official announcement, but the studio told several news organizations about the deal last night. The movies will be ad-supported, although not all of MGM's movies will be available at launch. The studio said that it will start with films like The Magnificent Seven and Bulletproof Monk, but there are no plans to upload their entire libraries—yet. It also said it would place clips from movies like Legally Blond on the site (despite the fact that the film is almost eight years old and shown on TV at least 21 times every weekend?).
YouTube has had a tumultuous relationship with the movie studios, which is why this announcement is so significant. The studios have historically been very wary of YouTube and the ease with which users could upload copyrighted clips—indeed, that is the crux of Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube. At the same time, the studios seldom hesitate to make use of YouTube's thriving user base in order to market their goods in the form of movie trailers and clips posted directly by them. For example, Lionsgate has opened its own channel on YouTube dedicated entirely to posting its own movie trailers and clips.
With MGM on board with a few of its films, YouTube is taking baby steps in the right direction. And, although the two sites are still very different, the deal puts YouTube more directly in competition with the NBC-owned Hulu, which already streams a wide variety of full-length movies and TV shows. Hulu's carefully-sandboxed approach to online video has been very attractive to content owners as of late, but YouTube is still the far more popular site.
By bridging the gap through the world's most popular video sharing site, MGM says that it hopes to boost ad revenue and get more eyes on its films. And when the other studios see that the little kiddies on the YouTube side of the fence aren't so bad, they may hop on board as well. After all, if there's one thing studios like, it's monetizing content.
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