YouTube Trying To Box Out Hulu In Disney Deal: Report

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The latest negotiations, PaidContent.org reported, have it that Disney would provide full episodes of ABC shows like "Ugly Betty" and "Desperate Housewives" and ESPN broadcasts to YouTube, and be compensated on a pay-per-click basis. That appears to be contingent, however, on whether Disney keeps it content exclusive to YouTube or also provides it to Hulu -- a possibility that was reported by several news outlets Friday.

PaidContent.org reported through unnamed sources that the negotiations between YouTube and Disney have reached the level of Disney CEO Bob Iger and Google boss Eric Schmidt. Disney for weeks has been said to be in talks with both YouTube and Hulu for the rights to use its content. Hulu, which already partners with NBC and the FOX network, has according to reports offered Disney a stake in Hulu if Disney gets on board.

Disney, which also sells movies and TV episodes through iTunes, said in a statement in February that its own Web video player has streamed 106 million episodes since September 2008.

According to ComScore, Google-owned YouTube accounted for 41 percent of all video streamed in the U.S. in February.

About 83 percent of adult consumers watch online video in some form at least once a week, according to technology research firm The Diffusion Group. The research predicts that so-called long-form videos -- TV shows and movies -- will account for 4.1 percent of video streams by 2013, and short-form and user-generated video content will be about 75 percent. But in the same time frame, ad revenue from long-form content, The Diffusion Group suggested, will account for nearly 70 percent of web video's total ad-related revenue.