SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE MAKES YOUTUBE DEAL — OVERSEAS

NBC’s Saturday Night Live may have 39 seasons behind it, making it one of the longest-running television shows in history. And although it airs outside of primetime, it frequently garners ratings that are better than any scripted show on NBC’s primetime schedule. But what it doesn’t have going for it is what every other long-running scripted show does — the ability to sell repeats into syndication. The show is often simply too topical, too political, too American, and many of its guest hosts have been one-hit wonders who may be virtually unknown a decade after their SNL appearance. But a whole new market has now just opened up for Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video-produced series: YouTube. Aided by ZEFR, a Los Angeles-based company that helps media companies launch YouTube “networks,” SNL is making thousands of sketches available on the video platform — provided those viewers live outside the U.S. (Michaels already has a domestic deal in place with Yahoo.) In an interview with today’s (Thursday) Los Angeles Times, ZEFR founder Zach James remarked that SNL is “basically built” for the YouTube platform. “It has the most highly produced, most loved comedic sketches in the world, and when you put that on the biggest video platform in the world, that’s a winning combo.” Some 2,500 videos have been culled from the 39 seasons, presumably those with timeless appeal, with another 2,000 soon to become available.