There’s no way Hulu is going to let Joost get a foothold in the race for attention in online professionally produced video.
So what happens when Joost ditches the download, goes all browser and launches a social network around their content?
Hulu can do that. No problem.
Tonight, via a 1 am press release, Hulu launches: show recommendations, user discussion forums for programs and specific episodes, enhanced search and better queue management. They also launched seventeen topical channels, including Anime, Fashion and Beauty, Food and Leisure, Home and Garden, Comedy, Music, Video Games, etc. The company say they now have nearly 900 TV and film titles from over 100 content providers.
And while I still think Joost’s Hot/LOL/Puke/WOW/WTF call out feature is just awesome, Hulu has the Daily Show. So they win.
Of course, the real battle, at least with regard to pure volume, is with the unbeatable YouTube, which has nearly 50 times Hulu’s 100+ million monthly video streams according to Nielsen Online.
Click here to watch a recent video interview with Hulu CTO Eric Feng.
At least Joost works for non-US based users , hulu sucks
As long as it’s not available in all major markets: agreed.
Anyone wants to bet that Hulu either goes international or is quickly surpassed by Joost?
If Hulu becomes international it will dominate the market.
The advertising money is in the US and a handful of other countries. They don’t need to go to other countries because their advertisers are happy reaching the US audience only. My apologies if you thought everything was fair in life.
Hulu won’t go international… because the tv networks that provide its content all sold rights to their shows to tv networks internationally. Hulu’s ad dollars won’t come close to that.
Well, there’s always BitTorrent.
I also dislike Hulu’s “US only” content. They are missing out on a lot more audience members.
indeed hulu sucks as it is US only. Still the US thinks they are the centre of the world but within 30 yrs the US will be some 3rd world country with no relevance to the rest of the world at all…
Curiously, is Hulu profitable? Because if they are, then who cares that they are 50 times smaller than YouTube?
Cheers!
HULU does’nt need to be profitable because its owned by FOX and NBC but they did sell all their advertising inventory last quarter .
If i was an advertiser for NBC/FOX on their tv media, i would be pissed. Royally pissed. Unless they cut me a deal to extend my ads over to Hulu. TV viewers should drop, so should their tv ad revenue.
good
So here I am, right in Rio de Janeiro, watching Joost.com. There is NO WAY that provincial Hulu can win this game unless they become internet-wide and not some national intranet BS as they are now.
Alex,
It’s a rights issue, there appears to be a lot you do not understand. Hulu isn’t the one locking you out of content (they enforce the rights), the content owners sell and license their content this way. That’s how the industry works, it’s called the windowing process.
From a user perspective, Hulu’s content wins me over and I do think they are profitable. Joost has the best chances of internet-wide success, especially now with an in-browser player than a downloadable app. I just want something that can go directly to my tv in a very simple and direct way.
JP
http://www.convos.com
People don’t want to have to install an application to watch TV … thats why HULU is currently better. People are afraid of peer to peer legal or not.
Hi Todd:
Joost is actually going to offer a new flash version of the service starting in mid-October - that doesn’t require any download at all. The new version will have the same social features as the plugin version and will give access to all on-demand programming.
@ Kate dont you love it when a Competitor has to copy you
and give you another soft Launch :p
I agree, most people are both scared and too short of time to download players, and considering the competition out there they need to be as point and click as they can. I’d be curious to know if or most likely when Hulu plans to have an international presence.
unfurtunately HULU videos can be streamed only in united states. damn!
They are all playing for peanuts until they can get into set top boxes and ordinary people can watch through their TVs.
Joost also has the Daily Show you just have to find it ….
Joost’s EPG and search is still a mess .
You’ve got to love competition.
It’s the content stupid.
I’m fairly tired of comparisons between Hulu and YouTube as if they’re at all applicable.
all I want is a VMC add on
Install an application to watch TV?? No way! Check out http://www.blinkbox.com - for some real quality free TV. I use it all the time.
From the home page (featured) american chopper… only its the first season 2003, who wants to watch 5 year old TV? thanks but can you give me back the 30 seconds you had me waiste looking at your extreamely outdated content?????
someone has to do as it removes market from youtube.com
The Joost plugin requirement is a hindrance to adoption. I won’t install anything to watch videos. That’s for being cheap!
Internationalization of a web property that is ad based is only good for bragging rights and hype generation initially… then copycats weeds will spring up and take your market share. Facebook’s story in 1 year or so.
There’s still a long way to go. Hulu isn’t international and they’re programs seem a bit outdated. Meanwhile Joost is getting on the right track, adn the competition is getting more fierce
HULU is the best!
In a matter of weeks - Joost will not need a plug-in. Stay tuned.
The plug in is not the barrier; that is a cop out for the poor launch of a service. Going to Flash won’t save Joost in light of Hulu. This fall, when Hulu gets on air promotion (which I assume is coming), watch out. This is a BRAND war, so to me it is the content and experience Joost has vs. Hulu. If Joost offered me content that I could not get elsewhere, I’d very eagerly install the plug in. Sadly, this is not the reality.
Best of luck.
Viacom owns a stake in Joost but the Daily Show and Colbert that is on the Comedy Channel that is also owned by Viacom is nowhere to be found .
I thought Joost had these shows but they are not coming up on Joost search or in the Joost EPG .The Daily Show and Colbert report are two very key properties to have online and Joost not having these two shows availible is a big mistake by Viacom and Joost’s content team .
I simply love Hulu and it makes more sense as a business when compared to Youtube. Google is still trying to figure out how to make money out of Youtube and soon it’ll realize that it’s a terrible mistake buying out Youtube for billions of dollars. I would say Youtube is just a video Napster. Hulu has introduced a great feature that is not in Youtube today — recommendations. This is the key to keep users engaged. There are very few companies that do recommendations for entertainment and I bet Hulu is powered by some of them. I would guess Flixster (www.flixster.com) for movies and Cruxle (www.cruxle.com) for movies, tvshows and other entertainment. Or maybe Hulu has its own recommendation engine. On either case, we’ll enjoy the shows and let Hulu makes a successful business out of it.
hulu ftw
I absolutely love HULU! As an end user, Joost has a terrible UI and downloading plugin to view is not a winner combination.
And with The Daily Show and The Colbert Report…the winner is HULU!
Bottomline… Hulu has momentum, and a great leadership team, and is backed by two media powerhouses. They’ll be the market leader in no time.
Joost already lost
Joost is too heavily branded. That always fails in the end. Also, Joost makes you sign up right away to watch anything. Hulu you can just start watching. I’m a big fan of Hulu.
What Hulu offers is basic cable, and it’s not like you will get basic cable without NBC or FOX…
Hulu should make available their content to ISP’s who also deliver their signals. I mean, the distribution rights to Latin American Rebranded Channels, such as the Sony Channel, or to their Latin American Counteparts, such as FOX LatinAmericas, doesn’t stop basic cable from having NBC, FOX, CBS or ABC from the original source (i.e. We get those channels too)…
Thing is that if hulu offered it’s content like this it would gain more with localized ads…
Now if Joost doesn’t play the “uh oh, you’re not US” card then it will have captured a bigger market and maybe get more profit…
I love the Daily Show! That and the Colbert Report is seriously all that’s keeping me visiting Hulu.
I wish they’d play something other than Flash formats so that we can watch on iphone.
When will Hulu address the flickering in ALL of their videos? Actually, I think the main reason for this is Flash. So, I should be asking Adobe, when are you going to get rid of flickering in Flash videos?
Netflix is a beautiful example of online video. The video doesn’t flicker. Never! It’s pure, smooth video over the tubes. I love the Netflix experience.
In China the video of Hulu’s Website couldn’t be seen.
Hulu and Joost they both suck. Joost sucks less since I can actually watch it. They all have crappy quality. I don’t mind installable player, but I don’t want to watch fuzzy blocks on my big screen. In any circumstances I won’t watch TV from browser, that is just stupid. As long as streaming internet TV isn’t capable to provide 720p or at least 480p feed, forget it. It might work for something like YouTube, but for TV no way.
Take a look at this web site: http://www.BbPcTv.com, broadband from PC to your TV. It lists all TV High definition TV channels directly from the producers. It is free. Do not waste you money in cable or satellite dish, if you have internet connection then you can watch TV shows for free. No excuse to not save money.