The long-anticipated launch of Hulu by the News Corp. (NWS-A) and NBC Universal (GE) alliance, has been received with surprising, positive remarks by a number of online sites and blogs.
While I've been positive about it from the beginning, because I know there's a huge demand for quality, online video content, many others ranted on it before knowing anything about it. That was more the anti-traditional-media rant, rather than any basis in reality.
The positive reviews do show there will be a market for this, although I don't think anybody really believed there wouldn't be. It also shows that Hulu executives have been doing their homework on what people would want out of the site.
Another thing people have written about in surprise, is the initiative isn't competing directly with YouTube (GOOG). Strange they keep saying these things when executives have said over and over again they weren't creating this site for that purpose. Why would they? Google is struggling to monetize the content they have there, so why would someone else enter that same struggle. Most brands don't want their stuff put up against potentially damaging amateur content.
Some are disappointed that Hulu won't offer the option of uploading, but why would they? They aren't branding as a user-generated site, and there are already enough of them to satisfy the most ardent amateur video fan. There's no need for them to enter that space.
One thing that may possibly hurt the site, is their current policy of keeping video up for only five weeks for current TV shows. That will be a negative for a small number of people, but overall most people won't wait that long to watch their favorite shows.
Where that will probably disappoint, is with those maybe wanting to wait for a season series to finish and then watch it in its entirety over a short period of time. For those that have different schedules, they can still use their DVR and watch it when they want.
Another positive, is there will be much less advertising included with the shows, than there is currently on TV. That in itself is a big improvement and will drive a number of people to participate.
In the end, like is mentioned here, the chief competitor isn't YouTube or user-generated video sites, but who this will definitely hurt in the long run, will be the cable and satellite TV industry. They are really the ones that have the most to lose here.
After enough content is offered online, even beyond Hulu, and simple devices that can transfer shows to a television set are developed, people will start to ask the question of why they need to pay a monthly cable bill, when they can get it online for free.
This is who is really being targeted by this venture, not the amateur video sites.
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Tracked on: November 2, 2007 9:23 PM | Permalink to Trackback