YouTube to show Cartoon Network and CNN content

Los Angeles: Google's YouTube agreed to carry clips from Time Warner's CNN, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim in an agreement that lets the two companies share advertising sales from the online videos.

Time Warner will be able to create and programme individual YouTube pages this year, the company said. Access will be limited to US users, YouTube said on its website.

YouTube, which mostly shows user-generated videos, is adding clips of TV shows and movies to attract more advertising and draw viewers away from rivals such as Hulu.com, whose owners include General Electric's NBC, News Corp, and Walt Disney.

The ads will be sold by Warner Bros Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting System.

"There's a lot of content coming on to the site, a lot of professional content, which is great," Jordan Hoffner, director of YouTube partnerships, said in an interview. "To really increase our domestic presence here for both content, and monetizable content, is kind of a double-win."

YouTube has reached similar agreements this year with Disney, CBS, Sony and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Time Warner's shares, owner of the HBO and TNT cable-TV networks, have gained 23 per cent this year. Google is up 44 per cent this yeart.

YouTube has more than tripled the number of video views that draw revenue in the past year.