YouTube Movies: Google Adds 400 Full-Length Videos
YouTube has been dabbling in the movie-streaming business for a while now, but the addition of 400 new movies to the site indicates YouTube wants to expand the service.
"This is one of many efforts to ensure that people can find all the different kinds of video they want to see, from bedroom vlogs and citizen journalism reports to full-length films and TV shows," said Donagh O'Malley, YouTube's head of video partnerships, in an interview with The Guardian. "We hope film lovers enjoy the range of titles in this free library, whether catching up on a mainstream hit or delving into the vast archive of classic films from decades past."
Unfortunately, judging by the list of popular films, it will be a bit hard to find either classics or mainstream hits. Most of the movies range from box office failures, such as Baby Geniuses, to schlocky straight-to-DVD flicks, such as Extreme Chickfights Raw and Uncut or OC Babes and the Slasher of Zombietown.
While the selection is largely obscure movies, it does represent a wide range of styles and genres, so that there will plenty of content to please almost any tastes (particularly, it seems, if you are a Jackie Chan fan). It also indicates that YouTube is putting increased emphasis on movie streaming and may even be preparing to take on Netflix and other movie streaming services.
