YouTube has been the go-to place for user-created (and often illegally uploaded) movie and television content for years, and now the service is attempting to lessen the second category with free movie and TV content.
Per Deadline, work like Hell’s Kitchen, Andromeda and Heartland are joining the platform alongside content from Disney, Warner Bros., and Paramount libraries like Legally Blonde, Runaway Bride and Gone in Sixty Seconds. None of the content is exclusive to YouTube, however, and Deadline reports that the site wants to refresh its catalog monthly with 100 new titles. Other work available includes the 1966 Batman film, 1987’s Robocop and shows like Scream Queens, Wilfred, The Prisoner, Michael Landon’s Highway to Heaven, where he played an angel, and the slightly early super-hero story Greatest American Hero about a teacher with an alien uniform.
Many of the pieces are available in 1080p and 5.1 surround sound audio. The announcement also details that this is expected to be a crucial boost to YouTube’s advertising revenue (in the last fiscal quarter the service reported $8.6 billion in this category) and the number of users makes it an attractive target for anyone looking to sell a product.
In December, YouTube’s reach extended to more than 135 million people in the U.S. alone, so it’s not a stretch to assume that, globally, the platform’s ability to reach users with both general and targeted advertising is some of the best that interested parties will find.
The new offerings can be found on the movies and shows feed of the site right now. Some other work now available on the platform includes Matthew McConaughey’s Reign of Fire, the Clue adaptation, Unsolved Mysteries and even Thunderbirds.