YouTube announced partnerships with Sony Pictures and other Hollywood studios and rolled out new platforms to feature television shows and full-length movies.

Google-owned YouTube, which has been cautiously adding more professional content to a website that started as a venue for amateur videos, unveiled a new destination for television shows and an expanded platform for movies.

Youtube.com/shows, which went live late Thursday, features television programmes from companies such as BBC Worldwide, CBS, Discovery Networks, Lionsgate, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, National Geographic, PBS, Sony's Crackle, Starz and others.

Youtube.com/movies features movies from Lionsgate, MGM, Starz and other studios.

"This addition is one of many efforts underway to ensure that we're offering you all the different kinds of video you want to see, from bedroom vlogs and citizen journalism reports to music videos and full-length films and TV shows," YouTube said in a post on the official company blog.

The television shows and movie destinations are currently limited to users in the US but YouTube said "we look forward to expanding to other regions as soon as possible."

YouTube and the studios are to share advertising revenue on the sites and Google simultaneously on Thursday announced the launch of Google TV Ads Online, which allows advertisers to place commercials into the ad breaks of television shows being watched online.

The move to expand YouTube's menu of professional content is the latest attempt by Google to generate revenue from the immensely popular video-sharing site which it purchased for €1.2 billion in 2006.

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