Hulu Gains 10 Million Viewers In February, Now No. 4 Video Site In U.S.(techcrunch.com)
techcrunch.com
Hulu Gains 10 Million Viewers In February, Now No. 4 Video Site In U.S.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/23/hulu-gains-10-million-viewers-in-february-now-no-4-video-site-in-us/
13 comments
I'd argue that Hulu is #2 and not #4. In terms of number of streams or overall viewers, they're in #4, but Hulu viewers spend considerably more time on the site than most other sites. In terms of attention gathered, they're way above Fox and Yahoo since Hulu users generally stick around for over an hour.
I love Hulu. Hulu gets it.
But, for god's sake, when is the plague that is geoblocking going to die already? I understand that Hulu's hand is being forced to do this by the content owners. Still, how hard is it develop a business model around selling different ads for different locales? If I'm in Canada, show me ads about beavers (chuckle) and snow shovels. Hell, cable providers have been overlaying their own ads into broadcast streams for a while now. It's even easier to do that over the internet. You can go a long way if you work with the grain of the technology.
I am so bitter, I'm going go download 4 full seasons of Family Guy through, um, other means. Just kidding, I don't even watch Family Guy.
But, for god's sake, when is the plague that is geoblocking going to die already? I understand that Hulu's hand is being forced to do this by the content owners. Still, how hard is it develop a business model around selling different ads for different locales? If I'm in Canada, show me ads about beavers (chuckle) and snow shovels. Hell, cable providers have been overlaying their own ads into broadcast streams for a while now. It's even easier to do that over the internet. You can go a long way if you work with the grain of the technology.
I am so bitter, I'm going go download 4 full seasons of Family Guy through, um, other means. Just kidding, I don't even watch Family Guy.
Hulu has actually gotten me to watch TV. I haven't had a TV in many years, and I've very rarely been a regular TV viewer (I can count the shows I've watched with regularity in the past ten years, before Hulu, on one hand). Now, there are several shows I watch on Hulu every week. I'm a customer the networks would have never had.
I think the only thing they're doing wrong (from the perspective of convincing me to spend some more of my time with them) is expiring some shows after some period of time. I sometimes hear a recommendation for a show from a friend, and I'll go to Hulu...they'll have it, but it'll pick up mid-season because early episodes have expired. So, I skip the whole series. I don't like to sit down in the middle of a movie...same thing with TV series.
I think the only thing they're doing wrong (from the perspective of convincing me to spend some more of my time with them) is expiring some shows after some period of time. I sometimes hear a recommendation for a show from a friend, and I'll go to Hulu...they'll have it, but it'll pick up mid-season because early episodes have expired. So, I skip the whole series. I don't like to sit down in the middle of a movie...same thing with TV series.
Hulu is an awesome service and a great alternative to bittorrent, especially since it's of comparable quality. I honestly don't mind the ads so much, especially since I know TV requires money to make and these fund the various projects out there. It's good for my hard drive free space too, since I don't want TV shows taking up space after I've watched them once.
Two suggestions for them:
1)Make Hulu videos downloadable through some kind of player like the BBC has. I commute on trains a lot and don't have mobile internet access, but would love to spend the time being entertained by TV.
2)Post entire seasons of various series. For instance, I recently began watching the Office and have worked my way through seasons 1 - 3, watched 5 on TV and am currently watching 6. I can't watch season 4 unless I rent/borrow it (which isn't a huge deal, but what's the big deal about posting old episodes anyways? Dvd sales aren't going to be profitable much longer, not they way they were a few years ago.)
Two suggestions for them:
1)Make Hulu videos downloadable through some kind of player like the BBC has. I commute on trains a lot and don't have mobile internet access, but would love to spend the time being entertained by TV.
2)Post entire seasons of various series. For instance, I recently began watching the Office and have worked my way through seasons 1 - 3, watched 5 on TV and am currently watching 6. I can't watch season 4 unless I rent/borrow it (which isn't a huge deal, but what's the big deal about posting old episodes anyways? Dvd sales aren't going to be profitable much longer, not they way they were a few years ago.)
Once issue Hulu will face in the next few months is that their exclusivity deal with NBC will end. This will make TV.com more of a threat.
That said, this recession really seems to be helping them out. I know a number of older people that just found Hulu and are considering dropping their cable subscription. I think Hulu is really starting to hit the mainstream.
That said, this recession really seems to be helping them out. I know a number of older people that just found Hulu and are considering dropping their cable subscription. I think Hulu is really starting to hit the mainstream.
Too bad they blocked Boxee. Not that it is hard to get Hulu working on Boxee again(I love the rss feed hack). But they won't truly replace television for most consumers until they are allowed to embrace the home theater computer in a meaningful way.
The same month that TV stations began to stop broadcasting analog signals. I don't think it'll be long before Hulu is number two.
> The same month that TV stations began to stop broadcasting analog signals.
It's also the same month as the Superbowl, the most watched television program in the US.
It's also the same month as the Superbowl, the most watched television program in the US.
Didn't Hulu start their nationwide television advertising campaign during the Superbowl?
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More publicity than reality