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Disney Deals with YouTube for Ad-supported ESPN, ABC Channels

Disney has inked a deal with YouTube to make short-form content available on the Google site, in an effort to gain broader distribution for its ABC television programs.

The news comes a day after reports that Disney was in talks with YouTube competitor Hulu to possibly take an equity stake in the video site in exchange for the ability to stream ABC shows.

The revenue-sharing Disney-YouTube deal is similar to one YouTube signed last year with CBS. As revenue growth slows, Google is attempting to boost the professional content available on YouTube in the hopes it will lure more advertisers, writes The New York Times.

An ad-supported ESPN channel will launch in mid-April, followed by an ad-supported ABC channel in May. Multiple other channels are in the works, paidContent reports. Disney will sell the ad inventory within the Disney/ABC, ESPN, and other channels. Ads will include YouTube’s InVideo overlays and traditional display ads. Disney will also be able to test pre-roll advertising on short-form content.

YouTube pulls about 100 million visitors per month, and, with deals such as this, is hoping to continue to increase that number by changing web users’ perceptions that the site is nothing more than a hub for user-generated content.

Another way YouTube hopes to differentiate amateur content from premium, professional content is a planned redesign. Sources familiar with Google’s plans for YouTube claim that the new design will replace the current navigation scheme containing “videos,” “channels,” and “community” categories, with tabbed navigation that will direct users to the clearly defined sections for professional content, according to ClickZ (via MarketingVOX).