hulu will make life a little less fun for youtube, apple
December 20th, 2007
A few month’s ago, I embedded a YouTube clip from Saturday Night Live on Cheezhead about MySpace. The NBC property was quickly deleted for copyright infringement. It sucked, but I understood.
Hulu can be best summed up as big media’s strike against YouTube. By creating a site where viewers can checkout The Simpsons or SNL exclusively, the hope is sites like YouTube will primarily remain dumping grounds for amateurs. I first snickered at the idea, but after viewing Hulu as a beta tester, I’m coming around.
Aside from common growing pains, Hulu is clean and user-friendly. Ads, when they show-up, are served in pre- and post-roll, and some shows have commercials in between or have an advertiser’s logo throughout, but the hassle seems bearable considering reruns of Doogie Howser are mine on demand. If ads become targeted, even less so.
Users can view clips of shows or entire episodes whenever they want from any high-speed Internet connection. Sharing videos is easy (even though the pixel width is a bit long for some blogs) and there’s a Web 2.0 feel with profiles, ratings and comments. I also like that they went a different direction design-wise from the look-and-feel of YouTube without making things too different.
If Hulu can keep the shows we know and love off YouTube, then they stand to be the destination to watch those episodes of Family Guy you happened to miss or may want to watch again while waiting to catch a plane. Moreover, Hulu will likely be a place big brand advertisers feel more comfortable spending their ad dollars (at least until effective targeting comes into play), finding ads on House more appealing than Perez Hilton.
The site could also make life a little tougher on Apple’s ubiquitous iTunes. Currently, if you want to watch a TV show or movie on your iPod, you pay a flat fee to own the content. Users can also subscribe to entire seasons of shows. Personally, I’d rather casually watch a TV show for free (dealing with a few ads) than pay $1.99. I mean, I’ll probably just watch it once anyway.
Like most things in business, competition is a good thing. I think it’s safe to say there’s a new kid on the block worth watching (yep, pun intended).
Now, back to that SNL clip …
December 21st, 2007 at 12:13 pm
ok cheezhead ill try cats but if it don’t work ill know who to blame!