Hulu Realizes That YouTube's Audience Matters; Puts Its Own Videos Back On YouTube
from the didn't-see-that-coming dept
We've covered the bizarre love/hate affair that NBC Universal has had with YouTube. It actually helped get YouTube its first burst of serious publicity in demanding the SNL "Lazy Sunday" clip be taken down off the site. It then went back (setting up its own YouTube channel) and forth (blaming YouTube for company problems) on whether or not it liked YouTube, before eventually announcing its own competing offering (in partnership with News Corp.) called Hulu. Soon after doing so, it pulled the official NBC channel on YouTube, which made little sense. Even if Hulu were fantastic, the actual eyeballs were at YouTube. It had built up a huge community. NBC Universal was making the classic content owner's mistake of overvaluing the content, and undervaluing the platform. It figured that if it hosted the content itself, the crowds would come.Apparently, that's not what has happened. While Hulu surprised many critics with a well-designed site, it appears that Hulu hasn't been able to generate the type of traffic executives expected. So, despite it being a YouTube competitor, Hulu has tucked its tail between its legs and set up its own channel on YouTube. Apparently, the "build it and they will come" philosophy of NBC Universal's execs didn't work quite as well as planned.
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Filed Under: audience, youtube
Companies: google, hulu, nbc universal, youtube
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Hulu
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Hulubalu
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Re: Hulubalu
Did it need YAHOO?
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I can rent and buy Disney movies, and it works great!
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Hulu
If all Hulu content was available on YouTube, I wouldn't have to leave one site, it would be grand.
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I like Hulu
My GF was telling me yesterday that she was happy to have found House episodes on Youtube since her TV has died recently and she cannot keep up with her shows. It's given her a way to keep up, somewhat.
I didn't know Hulu was out of beta. I'll have to let her know.
EtG
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hulu
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Re: hulu
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Multi-tiered content distribution strategy?
Yes, ads are surely necessary to cover bandwidth and distribution costs. But has a multi-tiered distribution strategy been hammered out by NBC yet? It's tough to watch TV when your on a computer multitasking- doing email, etc. I'd like to play the content on a uni-tasker- a media playing device. An iPod, perhaps?
http://www.usanetwork.com/series/psych/video/fullep/
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Who owns what?
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Hulu
I'll still give Hulu a chance for a bit longer. It's nice to watch some old TV shows that aren't on DVD. And the video quality is so much better than anything YouTube offers. But hopefully the content gets a major upgrade soon!
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