British viewers now have a new section of YouTube named ‘Shows’. It contains clips and full episodes from 60 partners, with more promised to follow. The bulk of the content comes from Channel 4, which is running the venture alongside its own 4oD.
Professional YouTube
has been seeking to add full-length episodic content and movies to its line-up for a while now. And it’s starting to see the fruits of its labor, at least in the U.K.
While UGC is still a huge part of the Google-owned site, and will no doubt continue to be, YouTube knows that professional content is essential if it’s to become profitable.
Shows
The new ‘Shows’ section is located at YouTube.com/Shows. Shows, which include full episodes and short clips depending on the broadcaster, are available to browse by category, by broadcaster, alphabetically, and by popularity. There is also a spotlight on certain selected shows.
Clicking on a show name takes you to a summary page with a short description of the show, a list of all the episodes available to watch, and the amount of views each one has so far gained.
Video
Clicking on an episode may mean signing in to YouTube if the content contains language, nudity, or sexual elements. Once the video is reached, it’s shown in a large viewing window with a black border.
Full screen viewing is available but every other feature seems to be disabled. Which unfortunately includes embedding, although that was always going to be the case. There is one 30-second pre-roll ad attached to every episode.
According to The Guardian, YouTube’s Director of Video Partnerships, Patrick Walker said:
“The YouTube community has always enjoyed the vibrant range of video on the site, from amateur make-up videos to professional TV highlights and everything in between.”
“The Shows section of the site will make it easier for users to discover videos from the biggest names in British broadcasting, and help our content partners reach new audiences and generate new revenues.”
Conclusions
Most of the content is from Channel 4, which announced a three-year deal with YouTube back in October. The problem, of course, is that every single piece of Channel 4 content is already available on 4oD, and it’s delivered in better quality.
So what’s the point? The only way ‘Shows’ would have a point at this juncture would be if it were on YouTube around the world. As it is, it’s only available to those resident in the U.K. and I fail to see why they would choose YouTube over the superior 4oD.
