I read an interesting article in Entertainment Weekly online about a new streaming video site that went live this month, called Hulu (www.hulu.com). It's a joint venture owned by NBC Universal and Fox (and it also received $100 million from a private equity firm called Providence Equity Partners). Hulu allows you to watch full-length episodes of current TV shows, old TV shows, films, and sports games (as well as clips) for free. It's different from YouTube in that its content is provided by studios rather than users, and it has very high resolution and quality. Unlike iTunes, it doesn't require a download service. Although the content is free, it's ad-supported, and a half hour TV show will probably have two 15 second ads and a 30 second commercial.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20185419,00.html
I had to take a look at Hulu myself, and I liked it. The TV content was interesting, because there was a cross-section of genres and eras. I found current shows such as The Office, 30 Rock, and Saturday Night Live, as well as shows from the 60's, 70's, and 80's such as Dragnet, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge Family, and Miami Vice. Hulu is appealing to the long tail with shows like this, and I think its popularity will continue to grow as it adds more long-tail oriented content - it might even have a negative effect on NetFlix eventually (Hulu only has episodes of about 250 shows right now, and only has 1 or 2 seasons available). Hulu also has community-based Web 2.0 characteristics, because it allows people to make comments about the shows they've watched (similar to people reviewing books on Amazon), and also displays which shows are the highest rated and the most popular. I spent more time on Hulu than I had intended - once I started searching for and watching old TV shows, I couldn't stop. I suppose that's exactly what they're counting on!
No comments:
Post a Comment