Disney Interactive Media and YouTube are set to announce a partnership today. Disney will create videos for a YouTube channel, and in turn feature YouTube videos on its site. Disney gets a leather jacket and YouTube gets a suit out of the deal. You see Disney’s site is seen as cluttered and slow, and it’s been losing lots of page views lately. And where are all the kids who used to don mouse ears going? YouTube, of course. So Disney scores cool points. YouTube, on the other hand, is trying desperately to look legit, especially in the eyes of networks and advertisers. The launch of YouTube channels last week shows how eager it is to get into the TV biz. So YouTube gets to brag that it’s partnered with an upstanding, television citizen.
Both sides get to take their cash rakes out of the garage and scoop up advertising dollars. And you? Well, you get the chance to watch an animated short, based on an app about “a grinning alligator named Swampy.”
So really everyone wins. Except maybe you.
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