YouTube is a diverse place. But at the same time, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) needs to monetize things. And that means going Hollywood.

So this week, YouTube premièred its "Screening Room" channel (yes, it was at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood). Basically, it's a place to see – on an exclusive basis – indie films. In fact, the films on the Screening Room will be eligible for YouTube's revenue share program.

To get some perspective on things, I had a chance to interview Chase Norlin, who operates Pixsy (an online video search engine). According to him:

"This speaks to the 'hidden' reason as to why YouTube was acquired by Google: specifically, a platform that can facilitate the aggregation of all short, medium, or long form video content. Given the audience reach of YouTube and the reach of Google AdSense, this provides an amazing opportunity for Google to quickly get into the media licensing and distribution business. Video content can now easily be aggregated, distributed, and monetized across a large network (AdSense will soon become video-based when monetization surpasses their existing text-based levels). Additionally, a large pool of licensed video material means that Google can, over time, become a significant contender in the media business."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.