Soon, see full-length Hollywood films for free on YouTube

Washington, Nov 8 : YouTube, the online video sharing website, will be showcasing full length movies produced by at least one of the biggest Hollywood movie studios as early as next month, said an executive with a major entertainment company.

Since a long time now, YouTube's parent company, Google has been in talks with major film companies about launching an ad-supported, streaming movie service, revealed two executives who know about the negotiations.

"It's not imminent. But it's going to happen. I would say you can expect to see it, if all goes well, sometime within the next 30 to 90 days," CNET News quoted one of the executives as saying.

However, all the studios are not ready to give full-length movies to YouTube.

In July Canadian Film Company Lionsgate agreed to give YouTube access to only short movie clips.

A separate high-level industry insider said that one more studio is also trying to cut a similar deal for short-form content with Google.

There are some circles which are sceptical about whether enough ads can be placed into a streaming movie to make it profitable and that too without overloading viewers with commercials.

Some film companies, according to two studio sources, have another problem to deal with- Google's insistence on using a specific ad format for feature films. The companies have not specified which ad unit Google prefers-whether it's prerolls or postrolls or something else.

However, some of the studios want the final say on how to advertise to viewers.

While Google refused to talk in detail about the specific details, a company spokeswoman issued this statement: "We are in negotiations with a variety of entertainment companies. Our goal is to offer maximum choice for our users, partners, and advertisers."

ANI