YouTube seems to be doing just about everything in its power to make sure it remains the dominant player in the online video industry.
Obviously they have been testing out the monetization waters in recent memory. They’re pumping HD content now. They’re making deals for content that people want to see. Now they’re even making deals with talent agencies, presumably for some unique, yet high profile content.
The New York Times is reporting that YouTube is close to signing a deal with the William Morris Agency. This is an agency that now represents former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
“William Morris Agency has clients like Denzel Washington, Russell Crow, JJ Abrams and Michael Bay,” explains Silicon Alley Insider’s Nicholas Carlson. “But William Morris also has lots of less-famous people as clients too. Web video personality Julia Allison, for example, shopped her reality TV show through the agency last summer. Now Julia and two of her friends have a show on NextNewNetworks called TMI Weekly. That’s the kind of content we expect to see on YouTube after its deal with William Morris.”
He is probably right in that the deal will most likely spawn a bunch of unheard-of-talent-based YouTube programming, but who’s to say that some big names won’t pop up from time to time. YouTube is not a no-name itself.
This deal is exactly the kind of thing that is going to keep YouTube fresh and appealing to viewers as the online video space gets more crowded with competition. Luckily, there is plenty of room for it all.
