90210 & Co. Get Full Ride as YouTube Ends 10-Minute Rule

Site starts showing full-length TV episodes, films
By Laila Weir,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 24, 2008 4:16 PM CDT
90210 & Co. Get Full Ride as YouTube Ends 10-Minute Rule
The logo for "Star Trek Online," a multiplayer online game. YouTube is going to show full-length TV episodes, including Star Trek.   (AP Photo/Cryptic Studios)

YouTube is abandoning its 10-minute video limit to show movies and full-length TV episodes, starting with Star Trek, MacGyver, and Beverly Hills, 90210. The Google-owned juggernaut is responding to competition from Hulu and other sites, reports USA Today. It’s also adding “pre-roll” advertisements that play before a video rather than embedded links that allowed users uninterrupted viewing.

Although Google says YouTube is profitable, one analyst says advertisers prefer network-owned sites. “If you're an advertiser, where will you put your money?” he says. “In front of content you're not sure about, or behind a series like 30 Rock, a known brand?” Still, YouTube remains by far the most popular video site, with 5.3 billion views in September to second-place Yahoo’s 264,266. (More television stories.)

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