December 3 2009: YouTube and Five have signed a major content deal which will make the broadcaster’s original full-length programmes available on-demand and free-of-charge via YouTube in the UK from today. Programming from Five can be found within YouTube’s recently announced UK Shows section, which brings together more than 3,000 hours of full-length programming and clips from its professional content partners at youtube.com/shows.
Under the terms of the deal, Five will make its Demand Five video-on-demand catch-up service of new programmes available via YouTube shortly after television transmission, including popular series such as Neighbours, Home And Away, The Hotel Inspector and The Gadget Show. YouTube users will also be able to access around 250 hours of Five’s archive content.
The strategic partnership marks the second time a broadcaster anywhere in the world has made a comprehensive catch-up schedule available on YouTube. The first such deal, with Britain’s Channel 4, was announced in October.
The deal will expand the availability of Five’s content to YouTube’s 20 million UK users and provide the broadcaster with additional advertising inventory and reach, tapping into growing consumer demand to watch Five’s programming online. For example, in 2009 searches on Google for “neighbours on demand” were up 600 per cent.
All programmes will be available only in the UK, free-of-charge and supported by advertising. Five will have a branded presence on YouTube and its sales team will be able to sell both display and video advertising (typically pre-roll and mid-roll advertisements and sponsorship bumpers) around the content available on the site.
As well as making its content available, Five will use YouTube as a platform to engage with fans of some of its biggest shows. For instance, in the New Year UK residents will be able to audition via YouTube for a guest role on the popular soap opera Neighbours.
Five will also use YouTube’s industry-leading Content ID copyright system, allowing the broadcaster to automatically detect unauthorised user uploads that contain Five content and block or monetise these as it chooses.
The deal is non-exclusive, allowing Five to continue to distribute Demand Five content via its own websites including demand.five.tv and other third party sites and services.
YouTube this week launched its first ever offline advertising campaign to promote its new UK Shows section of the site. The campaign is centred on the message “YouTube’s got TV” and includes bus sides, tube panels and full-page print ads, as well as online video pre-roll and display ads. In mid-December, YouTube will have an interactive installation in a shop front near Carnaby Street where passers-by will be able to choose content to watch.
Nikesh Arora, President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development for Google, YouTube’s owner, said:
“The past few weeks have been exciting for all of us who love British TV, and we’re delighted that our users can now find even more of their favourite programmes in YouTube’s new Shows section. This landmark partnership with Five places them at the forefront of the new opportunities around full-length content online, and their shows will see increased reach and revenues. This kind of agreement is great for consumers, who now have new safe and legal ways to watch the shows they love whenever they want.”
Dawn Airey, Chairman and Chief Executive of Five, said:
“This is a tremendously important deal for Five because in one fell swoop it extends the reach of our content beyond linear TV and our own existing websites to a new audience of younger, upwardly mobile and web-savvy individuals – an audience that advertisers are equally desirous of attracting. Importantly it extends the availability of legally available long-form content online thereby dealing a blow to web piracy.
“The partnership we are announcing today with YouTube is also a great example of how broadcasters can leverage the expertise of companies outside the field of TV in order to work together to take advantage of exciting new markets. Legitimate internet video operators are far from the ‘parasites’ that some have sought to portray them as in the past; on the contrary, they can be an important partner in helping modern day broadcasters reach new audiences and continue to fund high quality original content.”
YouTube is the world’s most popular online video community allowing millions of people to discover, watch and share originally-created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small. YouTube, LLC is based in San Bruno, CA and is a subsidiary of Google Inc.
Labels: English (UK), UK news announcements
