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The New York Times is reporting that YouTube and the William Morris talent agency are close to a deal that would see William Morris talent featured in online video content produced exclusively for the Internet. William Morris represents many A-list Hollywood players like Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, so online videos produced through this deal would have built-in audiences.

Stars would share in the revenue generated by advertising over the content, creating a synergistic relationship that could mean serious money for both YouTube and the talent. The move is part of YouTube’s continued move toward professional content that can command advertising dollars. 

Since 100 million people visited the site in October alone, any content produced through the deal will get an enormous amount of exposure — good for the stars’ traditional projects as well.

The deal could also be a boon for struggling web video series creators, who potentially could sign with William Morris for the opportunity to get their vision hosted on YouTube. If a series catches on, the advertising around it would be providing them income. It will be interesting to see how content producers are affected by this partnership, and if YouTube can translate the exclusive, professional content into a viable revenue stream. 

For more:
- The New York Times has an article 

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http://www.fierceonlinevideo.com/story/william-morris-talent-youtube/2009-01-29?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FOV0

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Jimmy Fallon, gearing up to host NBC’s “Late Night,” is set to launch nightly video blogs starting tonight at www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com.

The blogs will take viewers behind the scenes as the “Saturday Night Live” veteran prepares to take over “Late Night” with the departure of Conan O’Brien. They will go live each weeknight at 12:30 a.m. (ET), the producers announced in a press release.

The “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” broadcasts will be executive produced by “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels and produced by “SNL” veteran Michael Shoemaker.

“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” is produced by Universal Media Studios and Broadway Video.

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Comedy Central has relaunched its Jokes.com Web site, which now offers and cross-references 5,000 standup comedy clips and 12,000 text-based jokes.

The revamp of the site follows updates of the network’s other sites, including ComedyCentral.com, TheDailyShow.com, SouthParkStudios.com and ColbertNation.com. Together, the sites registered 84 million video plays in October.

The new site is updated daily and features a joke of the day, a video of the day and updates on standup comedy tours. Users can search for video and jokes either by performer or by topic. The jokes are divided into 80 categories—most popular is sex—and 1,900 more specific tags.

The site is designed to push users who search for one comic or joke topic to find related material with which they might be unfamiliar.

“We like the idea of people getting long on our Web site—in a good way,” said Erik Flannigan, executive vice president of digital media for the MTVN Entertainment Group.

The site’s different areas and configurations allow advertisers to sponsor very specific types of contact.

For example, leading up to the Super Bowl, McDonald’s will be sponsoring football-related jokes, including original material from comedians talking about the two teams’ home cities.

Automaker Kia will sponsor the Web page supporting the network’s Standup Showdown.

Another sponsor on the site already is Rhapsody, the download service.

Jokes.com also will sell tickets to comedy tours produced by the network.

Comedy Central is talking to MySpace about a possible venture that would bring to the site material from more new and lesser-known comics.

In the future, Jokes.com plans to feature more user-generated content and to allow its audience to comment and vote on all of the site’s offerings.

The community tools planned for the site will allow comedians to maintain a dialogue directly with fans, with the site acting as a virtual comedy club, the network said.

Clips already on the site come from 10 years of Comedy Central programming, including shows such as “Live at Gotham” and “Premium Blend,” as well as specials featuring comedians including Dane Cook, Jeff Dunham and Jim Gaffigan.

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