NBC woos YouTube

By Alun Williams

Posted on 28 Jun 2006 at 17:31

The phenomenal popularity of the video-sharing website YouTube has attracted the approval of NBC. The American TV broadcaster will now use the site to run promotional videos and other clips.

Using a dedicated channel on YouTube, NBC will plug forthcoming content and could also air clips from old shows and special behind-the-scenes footage, reports the BBC.

'The distinction between television and video is becoming murkier and murkier,' it quotes the chief marketing officer of NBC Universal Television Group, John Miller. 'Rather than putting our heads in the sand and saying this doesn't exist, we're trying to jump in and embrace it.'

The wooing by a major content producer will be a welcome development for YouTube, which has previously found itself under attack from the likes of RIAA. The US record industry reportedly sent cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users, demanding that home-made karaoke videos be removed from the site because of copyright infringement.

YouTube recently underwent a revamp - including the channel feature that NBC will use, 'Blog It' buttons and viewing history logs - in response to Yahoo!'s new efforts in the video-sharing field.