YouTube announced yesterday that they are now a new destination for television shows and an improved destination for movies. This obviously has two aims: to fight the dominance of Hulu in the space of professional content, and to create more valuable advertising space. The first will draw more eyeballs to YouTube, the second will make sure Google gets a return for its investment into YouTube.
All-excited, I went to YouTube to enjoy some shows. However, the first problem I had was that - at least here in Australia - the announced "Shows" tab was not available on the front page and there was no way to find the "Shows" or the "Movies". Fortunately, the YouTube blog post also provided direct links, so I went there directly.
With new hope, I browsed the available shows and selected some to watch. I was, however, very disappointed. Most of the shows that I clicked on were not available in Australia. After some trial and error, I managed to watch "Astro Boy", "Do you like Hitchcock", and "Staffers". I wasn't able to access "Alf", "The young and the restless","Star Treck", "Beverley Hills 90210'', "MacGuyver", "I dream of Jeannie", "Dilbert" or "Bewitched".
I would prefer if YouTube only exposed those videos that were actually available in Australia to us. What's the point in pretending all this content is available, when it's not? YouTube is no different in this respect to Hulu, which is virtually useless for an Australian.
One Comment
Youtube shows and Hulu is not virtually useless in Aus...just download Hotspot Shield. It gives you an IP address from the states so you can view otherwise inaccessible site like Hulu/youtube shows. Tip:I'm from Australia, and that's what I did.