There are some big changes happening with YouTube. You’ve probably read recently that YouTube has teamed up with Universal on a site called Vevo that is supposedly going to be the Hulu of music videos.
YouTube has also been getting involved with other content partners like MGM, Disney, and most recently, Sony Pictures, with which it is in talks with for full-length feature films.
YouTube is reportedly also in the process of switching to a more Hulu-like design. ClickZ recently reported:
According to two sources familiar with Google’s plans for YouTube, the new design will do away with the current navigation scheme — which funnels users into “videos,” “channels,” and “community” categories. That layout will be replaced with a tabbed navigation with clearly defined sections for professional content.
The new design will offer four tabs: Movies, Music, Shows, and Videos. The first three tabs will display premium shows, clips, and movies from Google’s network and studio partners, all of which will be monetized with in-stream advertising. Meanwhile the Videos channel will house amateur and semi-pro content of the sort major brand advertisers have shied away from.
YouTube will still have the user-generated content it has become known for of course. ClickZ’s Zachary Rodgers was told that they’d be putting up walls between all the user-generated stuff an the “brand-safe content.” YouTube’s player will also be more like Hulu’s (below) in the sense it will show markers where ads will appear in the progress bar.
It sounds to me like YouTube is going to become kind of like YouTube-meets-Hulu. I wonder if TV shows will enter the mix. Perhaps Hulu should think about offering a user-generated content area.
