YouTube to stream ad-supported, free TV shows for the first time

YouTube announced it will for the first time ever stream free, ad-supported TV shows—a move that puts the video-streaming giant into more direct competition with a rising number of free streaming services on the market, including NCBU’s Peacock, Plex, The Roku Channel, IMDb TV, and many others.

The company said it would initially offer it’s U. S. users access to more than 4,000 free TV episodes from shows including Andromeda, Heartland, Hell’s Kitchen, and others. The internet video aggregator plans to add almost 100 more titles each week, including movies and shows, to its free streaming collection.

The TV shows are licensed “catalog” programming that is usually available to stream free with advertising on many other services also, the kind of series most people would associate with traditional networks.

YouTube has streamed licensed movies free with ads since 2018, but adding TV shows to solidifies its effort to influence licensed catalogs of traditional programming to get users to spend more time watching YouTube on a connected TV device, such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV, or Apple TV.

One can find the free shows on YouTube by going to its Movies and Shows section. Nonetheless, this kind of longer-length, lean-back programming primarily aims to inspire people to watch on streaming TVs.