In its ongoing mission to move away from funny videos and become compete with young upstart Hulu, YouTube have agreed a deal with Time Warner allowing the video giant to stream Time Warner shows. The deal is the latest to bring professional content to YouTube. that’ll have it gaining some very popular, professionally produced content.

An official statement explained, “Consumers will have easier access to a wide selection of existing and future clips, ranging from CNN news coverage to Cartoon Network and Adult Swim animated shows to TNT’s hit dramas to Warners tv shows like ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show.’”

However the bad news is that we are not talking full episodes here. The YouTube and Time Warner agreement mentions ‘shorts’ which means viewers will be unable to view full length shows as they can on catch up tv sites like Hulu.

Chad Hurley, CEO of YouTube, commented:- “This partnership with Time Warner will provide our community with some of the most popular video content produced. We hope to build on this deal and look forward to a long and productive relationship.”

Other agreements have already been made between the two media giants in the past. Clips for HBO shows like “True Blood,” “Hung” and “Entourage” have been available on YouTube since last year.

Back in March, YouTube reached a similar agreement with the ABC unit of Walt Disney. A month later, ABC reached a deal to display full-length television shows and movies with the YouTube rival Hulu, which was widely seen as more valuable than the YouTube agreement.

The deal with Time Warner will give YouTube access to short clips from CNN, the Cartoon Network and Adult Swim animated shows, dramas on TNT and Warner Brothers Television productions like “Gossip Girl” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

YouTube has been desperate to move away from funny videos and onto more professional streams, making them more attractive to advertisers, as it battles to make money. YouTube executives hailed the latest agreement, which will allow Time Warner to sell ads against its clips on YouTube, as another victory. They said the absence of full length episodes from the agreement was unimportant.

“Long form is a great business,” Jordan Hoffner, director of partnerships at YouTube, said in an interview. “We are very happy that they are starting, focused on our core business. If you look at Time Warner’s portfolio, it lends itself well to short form clips. The important thing is to get them on the platform.”

Unfortunately the Youtube plan seems to concentrate on short (up to 10 minute) content instead of full length which is being pursued by its rivals.

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