So back on Oct 9, 2006, when Google bought Youtube.com, no one was quite sure what they were going to do with it. At the time, media was king, and everyone from Microsoft to Viacom was buying into the idea of online acquisitions. Google had bought some shares in AOL/Time Warner in Dec of the year previous, and Youtube seemed like a natural extension of their thinking of a lot of companies at the time; build a presence and the customers will come.

Moving ahead three years, Youtube.com has gained a significant position as the number one media stop on the web. Still, even as it’s reputation has grown, up to this point, not a lot has changed, and after two years at the top, the site still hasn’t turned a profit.

With that said, this year Google has made a few announcements; the biggest of which is that it will be running full-length TV shows starting this … with shows from CBS Corp’s archive such as “Young and the Restless”, “90210″, and “Star Trek”. It will also be talking to other TV networks to ink similar deals. Youtube has already had some amount of success running shortened versions of programs in the past, and with advertising slated to be run alongside new content, the site is adding a badge of professionalism to their content that is attractive to both advertisers and customers alike.

To this end, several changes have taken place. For instance, Youtube has raised the file-size limit for uploads from 100MB to 1GB per movie on director accounts. Also, users are now allowed to upload multiple files at once, and an improved video upload tool has been added that lets you edit your clip’s metadata while the upload happens.

With so much space at their disposal, I’m expecting that Youtube may become a defacto site for corporate branding, with more exposure to high quality corporate ad campaigns, documentaries, product commentaries, and independent film. At some point, Youtube could essentially become what cable was a few years ago, offering alternative programming to television and DTV, only with the added advantage of being able to deliver high quality programming on demand as opposed to on a schedule. Lonelygirl15 anyone? Or content could be streamed in something along the lines of Youtube News. Sponsored content or some form of payment for media that drives click through advertising is not out of the question in the least. Pay per download content is also a possibility.

Overall the changes indicate a really big push by Google to turn their already noteworthy brand into something even bigger. As programming continues to get better and as Youtube plays with their format, expect this site to get a lot of attention. And just remember…you heard it on Youtube News first.

Related:
Youtube Majors in Entertainment