Video-sharing site YouTube owned by Google Inc. (GOOG) has reportedly signed deals with a host of entertainment companies to feature movies and TV episodes. The new content is currently limited to users in the United States, the report said.
YouTube is said to have signed deals with Sony Pictures, CBS, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate, Starz, Discovery Communications and National Geographic, and are to share advertising revenue on the sites.
Simultaneously, Google also announced the launch of Google TV Ads Online, which allows advertisers to place commercials into the ad breaks of television shows being watched online, the reports added.
The move by YouTube comes close on the heels of last week's announcement that Google and Universal were teaming to create a standalone music video site called Vevo.com. YouTube's move to premium content comes after it started facing stiff competition from sites such as Hulu.com, a joint venture of NBC Universal and the News Corporation, which freely streamlines movies and TV shows for viewing. In recent weeks, Google was rumoured to be interested in purchasing the increasingly popular micro-blogging service Twitter.
Recently, Internet data tracking firm comScore Inc, while disclosing U.S. web search engine rankings said Google sites' share of the U.S. core search market during March was 63.7% of the total searches conducted. During March, Americans conducted approximately 14.3 billion searches at the core search engines, up 9% from February. Of this total, Google sites accounted for 9.1 billion core searches.
GOOG is currently trading at $394.65, up $5.91 or 1.52%, on a volume of 4.28 million shares on the Nasdaq.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.