30 January 2009 | Author: O. Gaywood Media Optimiser

YouTube nears deal with Hollywood talent agency

YouTube is reportedly close to securing a deal with Hollywood talent group William Morris Agency that would see the addition or more (official) videos being produced for the site by A-list stars.

Making money from YouTube has been a worry for owner Google for a while now - concerns over copyright violations means that the site does not place ads alongside user-uploaded videos. Videos from major celebrities tend to bring more viewers than amateur videos and the more official channels and videos it has, the more ads YouTube can display.

This move comes not long after YouTube began experimenting with HD quality videos, something that there haven't been any official announcements about but there is a page to view just the HD videos.

Hitwise stats show that YouTube is currently mainly used to watch music videos, with 72% of the searches on the site being music related. Lil Wayne was the most popular search term in December, followed closely by Beyonce and Soulja Boy. This research is backed up by a number of facts about the video sharing site - the Universal Music Group's channel is the most viewed of all time and Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend video was the first on the site to be watched 100,000,000 times.

By securing a deal with the William Morris Agency - whose clients include Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe - YouTube can take a step away from its reliance on music and transform it into a major hub for Hollywood content.

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