14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube is growing up from the mischievous little kid filled with webcam dramas and, truth be told, pirated videos to a young adult looking to build a future. Professional content has always been a weak spot for the site but that is beginning to change with several deals with content owners. The latest such deal is with media giant Time Warner and will bring short form videos from a number of Time Warner properties like CNN and Cartoon Network to the video site.
"Our agreement with YouTube helps us expand the amount of our promotional content, animation and news that we already make available online. Working with YouTube, we expect to improve our ability to monetize this short-form content through new and creative advertising initiatives," Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner CEO, said.
"This partnership with Time Warner will provide our community with some of the most popular video content produced," Chad Hurley, cofounder and CEO of YouTube, said. "We hope to build on this deal and look forward to a long and productive relationship."
The deal brings a varied array of content to YouTube, including movie trailers and clips, TV show content and news. Several Time Warner properties are involved in the deal, with content coming from TV networks like CNN, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, TNT and even from movies produced by the Warner Bros. studio. This isn't the first partnership the media giant entered with YouTube, as HBO, which is owned by Time Warner, brought promotional clips to the video site from shows like “True Blood,” “Entourage,” and “Hung” as early as last year.
Time Warner got a pretty good deal as it can set up its own YouTube channels and provide advertising on them, something that the site has been more open to lately. The videos streamed will have advertising time in them, coming from Warner Bros. Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting System and the revenue will be split between YouTube and Time Warner.