Despite Stupid Name, Hulu Finally Launches
It’s been about five months since Hulu first launched in beta back in October, but today the site is finally available to the public. The site is a partnership between NBC Universal and News Corporation, and Warner Bros. Television Group and Lionsgate have recently joined, bringing along a bunch of movies and sporting telecasts with them. The site will feature full-length TV shows and films from more than 50 media companies, although no major TV networks other than NBC have gotten on board yet.
Like other similar sites that have recently launched like Veoh, Hulu promises to give YouTube a run for its money, but that’s what everyone says. The idea of legally bringing TV shows and movies online for free (ad supported) viewing is a great one, and the site is guaranteed to be popular, but there’s skepticism over Hulu’s business model.
Silicon Alley Insider, for example, points out that because the site will be hosting content that it doesn’t own, the media companies that produce the shows will be getting most of the revenue. Hulu will bear most of the costs, which will become more expensive as the video resolution improves. So basically, Hulu has had to bend over backwards to attract content (which is still pretty limited) to the site, and in doing so, they’ve willingly given themselves the short end of the stick.
And according to the New York Times, they’ve been experimenting with some unusual advertising arrangements, which sounds sort of neat (if you’re into web ads):
Hulu is experimenting with giving viewers a choice in advertising. During certain shows, viewers will be able to choose which commercial they want to watch — for example, whether they want to see an ad for Nissan’s Rogue S.U.V., Maxima sedan or Z sports car.
Right now, the biggest challenge facing Hulu is getting more content online. There are currently about 80 movies on the site and many more TV shows, but many of them are obscure old shows that most viewers would probably prefer to forget about. And to get more and better content, they’re going to have to woo more studios and networks.
A note: Just like ABC.com’s streaming media, most of the content on Hulu is not available outside the U.S.
The most probable explanation for this on both counts is that most shows have been dealt out to local networks for distribution in non-U.S. regions. In that regard, YouTube will still win internationally due to it’s freedom from conflict of distribution rights.