While as far as short, user-generated content is concerned, YouTube is the undisputed No.1 video website, in other areas such as full-length feature films, it has been one-upped by others such as Hulu.

The NBC-Fox Joint Venture known as Hulu has become a popular online hub for full television shows and feature films. Because Hulu is not associated with the copyright controversy that has surrounded YouTube, and because of its origins with the movie industry itself, the site is more trusted by studios who would post films online. YouTube is in the situation where it has to make a move lest it be left behind.

That move comes in the form of a partnership with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer whereby YouTube will show full-length TV shows and films from MGM’s archives, which will be shown for free, with ads running alongside. The partnership is a vitality-preserving move for the 84-year old film studio too, as it has been facing its own financial troubles.

MGM will start by posting episodes of the rather old “American Gladiators” series on YouTube on one channel.

Another channel will see MGM post full versions of feature films such as Bulletproof Monk and The Magnificent Seven and clips from other movies still, such as Legally Blonde. Again, these will all be free, and ad-supported.

Even though networks have posted their own short clips already, alongside the throngs of user content, YouTube has been mostly a ten-minutes-max affair so far. The Google-owned site has been experimenting with full-length shows for a few months, though, alongside Time Warner’s HBO and CBS’s Showtime cable networks.

The new partnership is an essential step in MGM’s reinvention, as well as more leverage for YouTube with which to better compete against Hulu.

Since its debut in 2005, YouTube has been hailed by the community for the ability to freely upload and share small video clips, and it has become immensely popular, with 81 million people visiting the site in September alone.

YouTube is, however, not as popular with Hollywood, due to clips or sometimes entire movies appearing on the site without permission. In addition, advertising companies have found that the motley collection of user clips does not lend itself well to consumer commercials. Indeed, YouTube revenue has been something of a disappointment for Google investors ever since they bought the company in 2006.

The site is now trying to ‘make amends’ and construct a closer relationship with Hollywood. Aside from the previously-mentioned partnerships, YouTube has also teamed up with Lionsgate Studios and CBS, with the latter posting full-length episodes of older shows like Star Trek and Beverly Hills 90210.

“We believe in comprehensiveness, and we want to have deals with everybody,” said Jordan Hoffner, director of content partnerships for YouTube. “We want to be able to give users the most content possible.”

YouTube is essentially apologizing for their past frictions on copyright, and extending a hand to studios to make money for the both of them, and with YouTube’s hundreds of millions of views it won’t be an easy offer for studios to ignore.