In a first, video-streaming service YouTube has announced plans to put up free, ad-supported TV shows on its platform for its customers in the United States. On top of the 1,500 movies that have already been made available for free on its platform, Google-owned YouTube will also offer around 4,000 free TV episodes. This will be done in phases and the company plans to add up to 100 shows and movies each week, according to media reports.

The major TV shows that will be available for free streaming on YouTube include Hell's Kitchen, Andromeda, Heartland, and Unsolved Mysteries, among others. The development comes after YouTube added several free-to-stream movies including Gone in Sixty Seconds, Runaway Bride, and Legally Blonde -- on its platform earlier this month. Like TV shows, the free movies have also been made available only in the US.

With these new offerings, YouTube has entered into a direct contest with OTA (over-the-air) platforms like Peacock, the Roku Channel, Tubi, and others. Last year, YouTube and Roku were at loggerheads for nearly eight months over the inclusion of YouTube TV on the Roku streaming devices. The issue was resolved in December last year.

However, according to experts, YouTube's new content won't impact the likes of Amazon Prime Video and Netflix as the free content being offered isn't what is considered "prestige TV".

Earlier this year, YouTube had announced that it was abandoning the ambition of "trying to fill content holes" with its own programming via YouTube Originals. The platform said that it would focus strictly on its Black Voices and YouTube Kids Funds.

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(Edited by : Thomas Abraham)