Hulu jumped two spots to become the fourth largest video site in the U.S. in February, according to the latest data from comScore VideoMetrix. Hulu drew an audience of 34.7 million people who watched 332.5 million video streams. That is a 42 percent increase in unique U.S. visitors, up from 24.5 million in January, and a 33 percent increase in streams, up from and 250.5 million streams.
In a single month, Hulu overtook Viacom and Microsoft in total viewers and video streams (see January data). And Hulu is catching up to No. 3 video site Yahoo, which streamed 353.5 million streams in February. Fox Interactive (MySpace) was No. 2 with 462.6 million streams. And YouTube once again blew everyone else out of the water with 5.3 billion streams.
Hulu is really becoming a major force in online video. Since comScore started measuring last May, Hulu has grown the number of videos it streams by 277 percent, and its audience has grown 410 percent. Nielsen VideoCensus data shows similar growth in streams (see second table below).
first sentence, you may want to change “Huku”
thnx
Wierdly enough, I think the economy/recession is helping hulu. More homeowners are foregoing their cable/satellite providers for services like hulu and netflix – makes more financial sense.
I wonder how much the Super Bowl commercial alone helped Hulu’s numbers.
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Hey it’s Ian from the Wiire
Hi xD
I’m not surprised that hulu has risen, but it’s never going to pass Youtube, that’s for sure.
I think people said the same about the IE vs. Netscape many moons ago….
A lot of the live stuff is only seen on hulu. are they less stringent about copyright stuff?
-JP
http://trendsbuzz.blogspot.com
I talked last week a guy from sevenload he said , they want to be poplular then Hulu. Will they be successful?
Just checked it out. Lame, cluttered layout. Visually unappealing, not at all in the web2.0 style.
Nearly no original content. Very wordy, confused “about us” page.
Videos are missing basic funcationality, such as lightbox, and are awkwardly positioned at the BOTTOM LEFT of the page. What?
Loading times are slow, a 3:00 video buffers 4 times.
I’d say its not even in the same category as Hulu. Its more like a DailyMotion for people who can’t spell DailyMotion.
Its only plus is its international ambitions.
A hulu with shows form around the world would truly be a hit.
But who needs a second rate DailyMotion?
Truly a disaterous site. A cautionary tale.
‘Hulu’? Never heard of it before.. I will chk it out now..But I still think It’s tooo far from YouTube.
I like the HULU design and it’s light theme but still I would prefer using YouTube for watching any Videos..
Hulu is not trying to be YouTube, so the comparison is not valid. Yes, if you want to watch a bunch of crap, i.e. dog riding a skateboard, or some unauthorized professional content, then stay with YouTube. Hulu is great, great UI, great content, and selling out its ad inventory.
You won’t have heard of Hulu because it’s not available in your country, it’s U.S. only.
lol then it wasn’t very smart of the smartblogger was it?
A few observations from a statistician.
1. Beware of the numbers. Note that Nielsen reports 9m compared to 34m from comscore. That’s too big a gap to be explained by sampling differences.
2. Hulu got a huge bump from superbowl and post superbowl ads. Let’s wait for March and April to see how many retained users.
3. Hulu is primarily US shows targeting US viewers. Youtube has global content and wider audience.
4. 145 million users spent 5 hours per month viewing web video. Assuming an exponential distribution, 15 million spends 10 hours with online video. Still small compared to TV viewing, but conversely, there is room for growth.
What is clear is that users want concentrated video viewing, compared to the scattered videos in sites like Yahoo, Live, Myspace, etc. Look at the viewing times per user.
True.
Comscore is all panel- so if all of hulu’s employees are on the panel- or they reach a larger number of the panel, their visitor numbers are going to look rather large.
Nielsen is a hybrid of census data (actual data from tagging users (hulu would subscribe to nielsen services to be part of this) as well as panel data.
The question is then, which is more accurate?
Still good to see online video continuing to grow. As it will be the dominant form of media some day, assuming we don’t burst the tubez.
(being said in the snootiest way possible)…SO WHAT, you’re tring to sound so smart but you’re so ridiculous. The article did not give enough data to support your conclusions… Wow, you said it’s clear that “users want concentrated video viewing”, really, nothing supports that… maybe viewers just like having more than a 10 minute limit per video clip… I don’t know what set me off, but that was just a bizzare comment
all i can say is a big WOW! that’s so unbelievable, but its true!
What’s important is not the number of streams, but the number of visitors.
Sure, YouTube streams billions of clips of skateboarders getting hit between the legs, but Hulu can sell ads against their content.
If Hulu and Wii would just get together and get a Wii Channel created or ditch the Opera browser, I think we’d see Hulu start to gain on DVR’s and cable in some circles.
It is cool to see how Hulu has come on the scene and made a huge impact in a short amount of time. Keep rockin it!!
I think I’m in bizarro world because none of the comments above make any sense.
Good news, but could they negotiate to get rights to show their stuff in the UK? It’d be much easier than having to ssh tunnel into a US server just to watch Family Guy.
I love hulu, just wish I could watcht rfrm my itouch!and type from my itouch! LOL. (it isn’t letting me edit, sorry for mistakes)
Hulu is not usable outside the USA.
Unless you use a proxy server…
Hulu rocks
Shouldn’t the minutes per viewer be averaged, rather than added? Since you’re cummulating all of the viewers into one, they should be weighted accordingly, etc etc.
MATH
I thoroughly enjoy hulu, currently it is streaming my few favorite TV shows. I think it will be a deciding factor in my mind when it comes to getting cable TV.
Awesome! I knew the first time I saw this, it would be a hit. It will help lead the rest of TV viewers to the internet for their daily consumption of content.
Hulu would not suck if they changed 2 things. First get it on Roku, XBox, TiVo and PS3, I like to watch TV on my TV (go figure, could just be I guess). Second improve the streams, even the HD streems look like they run at 12 frames per second and total crap full screen.
tell me the youtube that everyone of you is crying after is better!!! I suggest you go make ur site and show us…
Hulu doesnt want you to watch it on TV. Fox & NBC arent ready for that degree of cannibalization… Of course thats what will happen in the end but they are buying time and not scr#wing the Cable/Sat./IPTV providers just yet…
So now screwing is a naughty word?
And not only that, but the “ew” only gets one “#” ???
I’m not sure I follow…
I hate HULU ..does any body has got any crack odf this to see outside US
Hulu is very neat and organize….. they let u choose if you want to see ads while watching too. got in about 3 weeks ago. Love it. Wishing them the best..
Love Hulu–just wish they’d play nicely with Boxee. *sigh*
Box what? Box-wii? Is that video for the Wii?
just kiddin…or was I?!
Hulu is my fav video watching site, hopefully they keep expanding and adding shows to their catalog.
I’m waiting for the Hulu iPhone and WinMo apps. Game, set and match!
If you look at the total time viewers spent watching video on the top sites, Hulu is comfortably in the number two slot, well beyond Yahoo and Fox.
Google 13,318,930
Hulu 2,240,149
Yahoo 658,528
Fox 607,872
Plus, also take into account financially how well the business model is working. Hulu is by far in #1 with a CPM of something along the lines of $40, compared to YouTube, which (correct me if I’m wrong) under $10 at best. (I’m thinking more around $5.) Hulu can provide high quality advertising spots that are more relevant to viewers. It is a win-win.
Not terribly impressive given that I couldn’t name #2 or #3.
You can’t name Myspace and Yahoo? Really? What are you, stupid?
Call me stupid as well, but I never really thought of Yahoo and Myspace as streaming video sites either.
In any case, I am aware of Hulu now, I’ve tried it just last month, and I’ve been watching it every day since. Its selection is awesome.
I expect Hulu’s ranking to improve more drastically over time (and I only hope that it doesn’t kill itself by placing too many advertisements everywhere because those new embedded graphical ads worry me).
Bet that the reason they jumped was the widespread availability of boxee. Probably see a drop this month after their brain dead decision to not work with boxee anymore.
And as someone above pointed out, I don’t think that comparing a site with actual shows to youtube is a very valid comparison. If you want to track streaming media in any kind of relevant way, there needs to be a differentiator between user generated content sites like youtube and media content sites like hulu. I know that there is some crossover with really good user generated content out there, but in general, bad clips from cell phone cameras or re-edited clips from other sources aren’t the same as sitting down to watch full episodes of professionally produced content.
These numbers seem off on the low side to me. Me and many of my friends have completely given up any other source of online tv for Hulu.
The comscore numbers are wacked – there are a bunch of sites out there with more uniques and more streams that should be in the top 10 – veoh, megavideo, metacafe, etc
Hulu will continue to grow as long as it remains partners with the major networks.
I know if I miss a new episode of ER, i can catch it the next day at Hulu. No DVR needed.
It is not just the content (although that is great), but it is a well thought out smooth experience. I can pop out or switch to HD without too much hassle, in mid-stream. Content is easy to find (though they are now needing a better, think netFlix, recommendation system).
If they keep innovating on discussions, user tools, etc… that will keep their numbers high over just content alone.
I think it is a mistake to compare Hulu streams to YouTube. For instance, what’s the average length of a Hulu stream vs. a YouTube stream?
While I don’t have the numbers, I bet if I challenged you to watch as many streams as possible in 30 min. on both Hulu and YouTube the results would be vastly different.
Sure YouTube will still have more total hours streamed, but at least it would show a more comparable picture. That said, it is still like comparing a car to a boat; they both take you places but have very different uses.
This is a great point.
Hulu – the most shilled site on the internet.
It’s a fantastic site. People like it and are giving it due credit. Don’t forget that TechCrunch spent a good six months digging a premature grave for the service before launch.
Hulu Rocks! It has the nicest layout of any video site.
If you want to watch Hulu outside the US, you can use Hotspot Shield
http://hotspotshield.com
So advertising does work? I’m confused TechCrunch… (http://www.tech...n-the-internet/)
Hulu has had a huge jump in performance on my Ubuntu/Linux dual-core AMD, in the past couple months. Before nothing was watchable. This week I watched a few old Rockford Files episodes, just for the hell of it. Fun stuff.
All these video search webpages are still really irritating. You click the wrong button, and you end up watching the same commercial over again. Even youtube still doesn’t print the lengths of clips in search results.
I have no idea what is up with Battlestar Galactica episodes on hulu.com. Half the problem is BG uses 2.5 and 4.5 season fragments. But the splash screens don’t seem to match the episodes available, nor is it even clear what the lastest episode is.
HULU is GREAT no more Charter Cable company. So what if it is 1 or 2 days different. Usually it is not. I wish it would have MORE of the programs I like but for now it’s all good.
THIS IS GONNA GET MORE THAN 10MILLION VIEWS!!! CHECK IT!!!
Hulu recently banned hotshield users from accessing their site. There are still dozens of paid alternatives though. The one I use when I’m traveling is http://www.hidemynet.com , it’s a low fee of 5 USD per month and I’ve never had any problems using it.