MGM first to post full-length features to YouTube

Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios, better known as MGM, will be the first major movie studio to post full-length feature films on YouTube, the company announced Sunday.

CNET News reported on Thursday that YouTube was preparing to launch a feature-film service after spending months smoothing over fractured relationships in Hollywood.

MGM will likely not be the last studio to post full-length feature films on YouTube, according to an industry source. Last summer, Lionsgate announced a partnership with YouTube, but that deal calls for the studio to offer only short clips from films and TV shows. MGM will also post TV shows on YouTube, according to multiple reports published on Sunday.

For Google, YouTube's parent company, the deal is a turning point in its relationship with Hollywood. There was lots of distrust and bitter feelings in entertainment circles after the way Google dealt with copyright infringement on its site. But that was when Google was in the driver's seat. Back then, thousands of YouTube's users would post clips from TV shows and films on the site and YouTube executives told the studios they were powerless to prevent it--all the while YouTube amassed an enormous following.

The law, according to YouTube, didn't hold them responsible for crimes committed by their users. Hollywood was further frustrated when Google required copyright owners to send written requests when they wanted a clip removed from the site.

The studios have Hulu to thank for forcing Google to soften its approach. Hulu, the video portal formed by NBC Universal and News Corp., has become the top outlet for watching full-length films and TV shows on the Web. The site is generating as many ad dollars in only its first year in business as the three-year-old YouTube, according to reports.

If Google wanted to duplicate Hulu's success, it needed to make nice with film studios. So it did. YouTube has developed systems that help keep pirated clips off the site and is developing video players that present clearer images than the site's standard player. When it comes to financial terms, Google has proven much more flexible than in the past, according to three studio sources.

The typical splits right now call for the studios to pocket 70 percent of the profits and Google gets the rest, say the sources. What MGM and Google negotiated hasn't been disclosed.

The only obstacles to Google and YouTube getting more studios to post full-length movies is Google's insistence on a particular ad format, say the sources. They declined to say which ad unit Google prefers. The other hurdle is that some studios are skeptical that users will accept all the ads that need to accompany a feature film in order to make it profitable.

[aka_tripleB]

Someone, quickly, upload "Santa Conquers the Martians" and take the title of being first. No one should declair themselves first unless they have actually accomplished the feat.

[Peet42]

It's been up for free on archive.org for a couple of years. The copyright was never renewed.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Santa vs Martians (not writing full title) is all over the place. Check those $1 or $5 public domain collections, usually sold at Wal-mart.

I do get your joke, but something funnier would've been, oh, I don't know, like them posting GamePro TV or something, or old episodes of Club Mario and Video Power, and treating it seriously, as if these shows are the cream of the crop.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Hulu's a "success"? I don't think so. Leo Laporte doesn't think so. Bob Cringely doesn't think so. Kevin Rose doesn't think so.

Ever used Hulu compared to YouTube? Hulu crashes, doesn't work on Wii's browser and doesn't cache the video.

YouTube caches the video if paused, rarely crashes, loads under dial-up, can be saved (I won't write how), and works on the Wii browser easily, allowing my friends and family to enjoy YouTube in the living room. On a regular TV the Wii plays on (HD is in my home theater, not living room), YouTube looks great.

Have I used Hulu? Yeah, watched many old TV shows there. But since it sucks overall (no, I'm not watching on dial-up, but others do) compared to my YouTube experiences, I'll stick to YouTube.

Hence, MGM and other studios know this, and are making the movie. Hulu was just NBC's little hissy-fit to Apple, though the same shows were offered on Xbox Live. Go figure. I got my Office fix either way.

Oh, and Hulu can be saved too, I'm not going to bother writing how, though.

[wolverine01]

This is great that studios are putting movies on YouTube but with ISP like Comcast restricting you bandwidth use who will be able to watch them if you want to do anything else on your computer?