Source: nytimes.com

The agreement with Verizon is YouTube’s first major deal with a wireless carrier as it tries to extend the reach of its Internet video content beyond personal computers. YouTube, which was acquired by the Mountain View, Calif., Internet company for $1.65 billion, has attracted a huge audience for the videos on its site, which consist mainly of amateur films, home movies and clips of TV shows and musical performances.

Now YouTube is going mobile. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, will have exclusive rights to YouTube’s mobile content for a “limited” time. The companies won’t say for how long. Over time, YouTube is likely to seek similar partnerships with the other leading cellular operators, including Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., Sprint Nextel Corp., and T-Mobile USA Inc. . .

For the time being, Verizon will get a leg up on competitors as all players in the cellphone industry look for content that will attract users to pay for watching videos on the small screen. Beginning in early December, Verizon will make a selection of YouTube videos available to its 57 million customers. Verizon will update its YouTube offerings daily. To get the content, consumers have to subscribe to Verizon’s “V Cast” media service, which costs $15 a month, or $3 for daily access, and only works with certain handsets.

YouTube by itself won’t lure anyone from Sprint or AT&T, etc to Verizon. But if people are already considering switching this adds to a potential list of reasons to go with Verizon.

And with mobile video comes pre-roll of course . . . That’s probably going to be a more effective mobile branding vehicle ultimately than mobile display advertising.

Consumers have shown some interest in mobile video but not anywhere near what the hype and forecasts suggest. Short form video is much better suited to mobile phones than full-length clips right now.

Verizon Wireless and YouTube said the service would be available early next month. The companies would not discuss the financial terms of their deal but said Verizon would have the exclusive rights to distribute YouTube videos on mobile phones “for a limited period of time.”

“This marquee partnership is the first of many,” said Kelly Liang, senior director of business development for YouTube. Ms. Liang said the company planned to introduce other such deals within the coming year.

YouTube said its editors would select short videos from its library for the Verizon Wireless service. Verizon Wireless said it would vet the videos to make sure they met the company’s editorial and taste guidelines.

“We’ll select content that has the broadest appeal and the highest entertainment value,” Ms. Liang said.

One question is whether the limited selection of videos on the service will undermine the basic appeal of YouTube, which has grown popular in part because users decide what they want to watch.

But Allen Weiner, a Web publishing analyst with the consulting firm Gartner Inc., said he believed that the short bursts of escapism provided by YouTube would translate well to the mobile phone. That said, Mr. Weiner said he did not believe the deal alone would be enough of a selling point to attract new customers to Verizon.

“It’s not going to be a driver” of new subscribers, Mr. Weiner said. “But it will give people who are considering the video service component something to think about.”

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