Hulu Peeks at the Public with a Whimper
Hulu, the online video project from Newscorp and NBC/Universal, with participation by Sony, MGM and others, has begun its highly controlled opening to the public this week. The Hollywood-content-only, wildly over funded project is opening up a private beta to a few thousand users it told reporters before a midnight EST embargo this morning.
Amazingly, none of those reporters appear to have been included among those few thousands with actual access to the site - all reporting I've seen has been based on a WebEx demo at most. It can be awfully messy to let industry experts actually touch your technology months before it's opened to the general public. When I say general public, I mean in the United States - it appears that people outside the US cannot view the videos. This is the future? If you live in the US you can watch old episodes of TV on the internet?
You won't likely be able to interact with the Hulu site for months but much of the content is available on other sites, in their video players, now. An embedded example is available below the fold - US residents only please!
This Launch is Unimpressive
Let's be honest: there's nothing courageous or innovative about Hulu - the whole project is quite the opposite in fact. Huge media is exposing its crown jewels to the web because it has to - much as they wish it wasn't, this internet thing is real. The initial offering that Hulu is bringing to market is shamefully uninspiring and woefully inadequate for a new world of media. If you haven't found any other online video that you enjoy and you've been eagerly awaiting the day that the gloss of old-Hollywood's push-media experience would come to the web, then your lucky day will be here in a couple of months.
No user generated content (not even best-of), no desktop player or download of material (it's all in a Flash player) and very little viewer interaction is enabled. Viewers are allowed to select which section of the precious Hollywood content they are most in love with, that section or the whole video can then be shared with a friend or embedded on a website. This is just a multi-partner content deal with paltry technology behind it and a whole lot of money for marketing. Nothing innovative to get excited about.
Dragging Their Feet
Content will be available on Hulu at Hawaii time on the day after they air, at the earliest. As reported by Kara Swisher, who wrote an otherwise good, critical post on Hulu with an inexplicable conclusion that it will shake up the industry - only the 5 most recent episodes of current TV shows and less than a dozen movies will be available on the site.
Liz Gannes, who provided the smartest coverage on the sneak-preview I've seen so far, says that the biggest nod to remix culture comes in this move: "Hulu has enlisted film school students to edit together mashups of its content; one featured clip combines various times Homer Simpson has said 'D’oh.'" Gannes also provided a list of programming content in PDF format, complete minus subsequent Sony and MGM content. That's one page in three columns of show names and two pages of participating media brand logos. Thankfully we'll be spared advertising at a frequency made standard on the box - Gannes says Hulu will run ads at about 25% the standard rate of TV. Is that TV with or without Tivo?
What It Could Have Been
Here's just a quick sampling of things that Hulu could have done with their piles of money and professionally produced content.
A really solid desktop player with DRM free, ad supported content downloads would have been great. These people's stranglehold on our attention is not nearly so safe that they can continue giving us the bare minimum of access.
A recommendation engine would make sense if there was any serious catalog of content. Perhaps Hulu is of the belief that we should all adore their every drop of content, though, and thank our lucky stars to be able to embed any of it in full-episode format on our MySpace pages.
Hulu could have been a great first opportunity to put Flash Light on the mobile to the serious test. How about some live video streaming? There are some hard technologies being brought to market - why not lead the way on them the way the networks lead the way in bringing TV into our lives so many years ago?
There are doubtless hundreds of ways that a social layer could have been implemented, it could have been borrowed from countless models already explored by startups like StumbleUpon, Twitter or Last.fm.
Hulu could have done something important. Maybe it still will in the months before it actually goes live to the public. I wouldn't bet on it though; all that money and potential will likely be squandered on brand fear, legal foot dragging and a dangerously inflated sense of self importance by the participating companies.
Share2 TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.readwriteweb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1738
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts
heh, thanks for the embedded snippet:
"unfortunately this video is not currently available in your country or region. we apologize for the inconvenience."
that's all I needed to know..
stupid mediacompanies, still don't get the first two Ws in www.
Soon we will be able to hack TV programs. That will be a real pain. When your team is beating us bad I can hack it all and spoil it for everyone. Exciting possibilities there... ugh!
I think that this actually will "shake up the industry" in the sense that it will compel the TV networks and other video content providers to throw hundreds of millions of dollars down a pointless DRM-laden toilet in the same way that their bretheren in the music business have been doing for years now. If that kind of misguided waste doesn't qualify as "shaking up the industry" I'm not sure what does.
User-generated content certainly has its place (and I do consume a TON of podcasts) but I'm still mostly a big fan of professional, long-form content on the video side so I could care less about them omitting the user-gen angle. I just want free, downloadable TV shows that I can take with me on my own device that I don't have to pay for per episode/season (i.e., I will gladly accept ad-supported content just like I do on websites like this.)
That's the biggest hook they could have over Itunes, YouTube and the myriad of other browser-based flash player services out there IMO. I watch a lot of TV shows and I'm increasingly loving Media Center, so the upcoming Zune with Media Center integration is looking like a more attraction option all the time.
The problems with Hulu keep piling on: being in Canada, when I click on the play button I get a large message telling me the "video is not currently available in your country or region." While I am certainly not surprised by this, it is frustrating that Hulu tries to lure me into clicking play, and only then denies me access. How user unfriendly.
U.S Only? Because everyone outside of the U.S can't speak English or live in Sweden, next to TPB's servers?
Lame business model. I would prefer if they just built their own internet maybe usw.hulu.com instead of www.hulu.com, that way everyone won't care what they do and won't bother visiting them.
A) NBC will be launching an "NBC Direct" desktop client soon as an alternative for users who don't want to visit a website for their content.
B) Why does every online video site have to include user-generated content to be a winner? It's kind of silly to take on YouTube at this point. Hulu is an online video site for professionally produced content, not UGC.
C) Hulu isn't just a website. It's also a distribution model. Hulu videos are already available from AOL and MSN. Hulu gets advertising revenue whether you watch a video on their site, on AOL, MSN, or on some other site where the video has been embedded. This is something YouTube and other sites are still struggling to achieve.
D) Because the video is being distributed through other sites like MSN, I predict that it's only a matter of time before you can start to watch Hulu content via Microsoft's 10-foot Windows Media Center interface. MS recently launched an "Internet TV" tab in MCE. So far you can only access video that's already available on MSN Video. But now that you can watch NBC, FOX, Sci-FI, USA Network and other content on MSN Video, Windows Media Center Edition is about to get a heck of a lot more useful. Missed last night's episode of The Office? It's online. And you can watch it on your TV. Or you will be able to. I hope.
Wow Marshall,
I generally like your post but disagree with maybe half of your suggestions.
UGM. I don't watch The Office for user generated content. YouTube overfloweth with user generated content well beyond my needs. I want the polished stuff from actual writers and actors from my media conglomerates
DRM. would have been nice to be DRM free, but I don't see the practical applications for most folks and most content is locked in DRM so I definitey don't expect open culture leadership from NBC/Fox. Would have been nice, but I can't hold them to that standard.
Recommendation engine. Give it time. This is day one of the site. and not really. it's still pretty closed. I strongly agree with the idea though. I want video sites to let me flag videos, create playlists and eventually show me what else I might like. But good rec engines probably take time to build. I'll give Hulu time
Social layer. MOST definitely. TV is a social experience, so TV online should exploit that for the benefit of the content creators and viewers.
I think you don't give Hulu nearly enough credit for allowing off-site embeds of only certain clips from a show's timeline, however. YouTube doesn't even allow this, and I think this style of distribution will lead to many cool uses of content. I don't have to download some hacky FLV video converter to rip and strip youtube videos anymore. I can make a clip of a favorite scene or line, and while I can't quite weave them together, I can stack those players on my site in a blog post called "favorite lines from the office" or something.
I'm surprisingly proud of the Hulu thing and think they deserve to graduate from the name, "ClownCo" that Arrington insists on using. It's not perfect, but it's a lot considering who's making the offer.
I also look at this from the perspective of wanting to see episodes of The Office. It's not on iTunes because Steve Jobs is the most arrogant man in America. Now I care slightly less (still not portable) because I can go to my computer and watch it there.
I'm sure more is coming. I am cautiously optimistic that even if Hulu doesn't do it itself, this move will advance the online video world significantly.
"a dangerously inflated sense of self importance by the participating companies"
Werd.
@Baratunde, Brad and others - the UGC thing in particular I will concede is not that big a deal, but it does greatly limit the good content that Hulu can offer. The rest of this discussion I'll have to take some more time to chew on. Thanks for your thoughts, everyone!
If all you're after is access to a library of pre-approved sitcom episodes and movie clips, Hulu might be right up your ally. But for my money, Vimeo (a href="http://www.vimeo.com/HD" target="_blank">now with HD!) is still by far the best environment for both video CREATORS and anyone looking for quality orginal content...
Marshall, I thought about the UGM thing again. Rather than saying you're "wrong" i'll say we are looking at this differently. NBC/Fox is not trying to build a universal web video system. they are trying to extend their distribution to include the web in a way that makes them feel comfortable without completely sucking for the viewers.
that doesn't mean, however, that Hulu should not strive to be something more that online-distribution-of-the-content-to-which-we-hold-exclusive-rights.
Maybe there's a secret Hulu roadmap which shows that in Year 3 Hulu becomes not just a showcase for existing "professional" content but an integral part of people's video media experience. I don't expect it but it's a bigger bolder way of thinking of online video
If Hulu is free, then this becomes the first free way to legally watch some of the best shows on TV, shortly after they air, right? Is that not a big deal? I don't want to, and don't, pay $100+ a month for cable TV service, so it's not like I can "just DVR it" to get the same thing.
Newscorp? As in Fox News? Guaranteed to be clueless as it gropes around looking for angle to disperse propaganda. I'll watch it if it includes Bill O'Reilly getting stabbed in the eye with a fork.
These nimrods don't have the first clue what it takes to deliver massive amounts of content on the internet. Apple has it nailed down. These guys can't even make decent TV shows. Heroes is the only show remotely approaching entertaining, and I can definitely do without it.
I hope they choke on this site.
Hooray for Hulu!
Forget the A LA Carte cable TV argument and the need to pay some pricey cable bill to watch only a few things.
This type of thing is an impetus to the death of the cable TV business model and the rise to Billing by The Byte ISP pricing schemes. Boo hiss on the latter, but it's inevitable!
foolu is more like it
chick next to me ask, dude what's wrong with the old way
of watching TV content?
pick the remote up, point to flat glassy panel and press
the "on" button.
"tada"
she just don't get it.
Re: Recommendation Engines
Actually contrary to popular belief they are easy to implement by white labelling an exiting platform.
Cognation is working with an existing platform provider to deliver an easy to deliver solution that is already integrated into iTunes and various UGC flash players.
With a PPU busiess model to hook into the exiting technology it's an exciting upgrade to improving what people view on these sites and how long they spend reviewing content.
Please feel free to contact us in new York for more information.
regards,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net
when, we can watch:
http://www.pornohulu.net
http://www.sexohulu.es
Marhsall, your critical analysis of Hulu is impressive. It is nice to see true analysis. Nice pointers to the movie industry that is wanting everyone to be in the nine-tees.