As Hulu continues its spectacular rise (it is the No. 3 video site in the U.S. and is closing in on No. 2), it just got major buy-in from yet another major media company. Disney is now an investor, joining News Corp and NBC (along with private equity firm Providence Equity Partners). Each of the three media companies now reportedly own 27 percent of Hulu.
As the initial exclusivity for NBC and Fox content expires, Hulu will be adding Disney/ABC videos and TV shows to its distribution mix as well. Hulu is becoming the preferred distribution channel for the big media companies. And it is succeeding in attracting the fickle Web audience. This should worry YouTube, which is still casting about for a business model that will pay for its enormous storage and bandwidth costs. The media companies cannot ignore YouTube just yet, but by strengthening Hulu they can give it their best content first.
In the world of media companies, every new distribution window is a new opportunity to make money. So instead of thinking of the Web as one big distribution window, maybe Hulu gets first dibs at the hottest shows and movies, and then YouTube after a while. the media companies would like nothing better than to displace YouTube as the king of all Web video. And with a stake in Hulu’s success, they have even more incentive to help it win.
But if Hulu does become the de facto distribution vehicle for the media companies, the TV and movie companies who are not part of the partnership will be at a disadvantage. Companies like CBS and Time Warner have to consider joining as well. But Hulu can’t let them all in because at a certain point it will trigger antitrust concerns. So there is a limit to how dominant Hulu can become, but Hulu is still along way from getting there (Hulu streamed an estimated 380 million videos in March in the U.S., compared to 5.9 billion for YouTube). For now, merely presenting a serious challenge to YouTube is a good thing for competition and for video on the Web.
Congrats to both Hulu and ABC! Puts lots of pressure on CBS now. This is the future of TV.
SplashCast is really looking forward to getting ABC’s shows into Facebook and MySpace asap!
This is really getting hot…:)
~ marvin
disney = aaple
No Disney does not equal Apple, but I will admit that this was a great move by Disney.
Make you wonder what Google is going to do about this… Youtube can not be making a profit right now and I can not imagine how it can until it can get some sort of redirection going when it comes to its content.
Remeber a time when Google = Apple?
Seems like going to Hulu directly in the future for ABC shows is easier than jumping through 2 additional hoops.
Michael..I really thing you are hitting the head on this..I enjoy your comments..
http://www.twit...er.com/chuckiem
you are a lame comment spammer
Hulu? What? Where did this come from?
I still prefer illegal bittorrent downloads.
That makes NO sense. Why on earth would anyone prefer waiting hours for content to download bit by bit from a bunch of seeders and whatnot when they could just watch about three minutes of ads each hour and enjoy a TV show they like immediately?
Even if you were joking/being sarcastic…anyone who suggests pirating is “easier” or “simpler” than just visiting Hulu is an idiot.
Hulu’s selection of TV is okay, but when it comes to movies you really cant find anything. Bittorrent is definitely still the place to look when you want a t.v. series or movie asap.
Especially if you are into documentaries, more rare series or films. If it’s anywhere online… it’s on Bittorrent.
In some cases it is easier. With FiOS it takes me approximately 10 minutes to download a 1hr 720p TV show over bittorrent. Not to mention I could have my bittorrent client automatically download a list of shows from an RSS feed, and have them all ready to go on my server when I get home, then watch them anywhere in the house.
I’m not saying that it’s easier for everybody, I’m saying that it’s easier and faster for me. Hulu isn’t built for geeks, it’s built for the average consumer, and that I am not.
Exactly …. the media companies have bended to our desire to watch free content online. Just click and watch what they are offering for free!
If your still using Bit Torrent to download and consume copyrighted content your a thief!
if they stop banning hulu from boxee then i will use hulu again. i prefer using my media center to watch stuff, not as easying when your using a browser.
Now if Hulu figures out how to replace those annoying ads with pop-overs, YouTube drops to second place…
i just fricking wish CBS would put episodes of Two and a Half Men online…
And How I met your mother and Big bang theory. I’ve pretty much quit watching 2 and a half men
just testing out facebook connect
Hulu congrats. Although, lets see what YouTube does. We already saw what Google did to Wolfram. (Evil laugh from Google).
This is a huge boon for Hulu, but bad for NBC and Fox. And even worse for everybody else who isn’t bought in.
How is it bad for NBC and Fox?
They lost a fair amount of stake in Hulu, and now have another content partner that can box them out.
On the same hand though, they probably care very little about the stake in Hulu, and more content could help boost their content as well. Kind of a glass half full thing.
NBC and Fox benefit because with ABC, Hulu is now the de facto channel for online TV content. The pressure is now really on CBS.
There goes ClownCo again making a great move. YouTube is a crappy gag site compared to Hulu!
Congrats to Hulu! Signing Disney is a good way to rebound from the devastating news that YouTube has movies like Hercules in New York.
I had a feeling this was coming. I worked closely with a Disney Affiliate on a Social Media Campaign, and found that they had a very strict “No Youtube” policy. In fact I hear that many companies, including companies outside of media, are cautious about associating their brands with YouTube.
Getting Disney/ABC on board is a huge step forward. How does Hulu compared with the iTunes store in terms of licensing deals?
Also, I would watch Hulu even more if I could get it on my Roku.
Hulu on the Roku would give that tiny-yet-powerful device the ultimate edge over Apple TV.
I (and many others, GIB) were just moments away from purchasing an ATV to load up boxee, but then we totally abandoned those plans once boxee was locked out of Hulu (via API or whatever they did… I know they now currently have Hulu’s RSS in there).
The fact that Amazon Video — now on the Roku — offers a good chunk of popular content that overlaps with Hulu’s offering. Obviously, its buy vs. stream w/ ads, so how they deliver is different, but I’m sure that if Roku users had the option to stream instead of purchase, they’d do it. That’s what they’re used to with Netflix. That’s why they got that box originally.
Of course, we, the consumers, will be losing out for quite some time still. We want cable less and less, some want to own, some want to stream, and every media company wants to do things more or less their own way.
Hulu is still US only right? Why isn’t this mentioned as a huge problem Hulu has or is the US all you need to think about now as a media comp?
It’s the main issue with Hulu, or really any online video network: rights to air it are spread out throughout the world and getting worldwide rights to something is extremely unlikely. Odds are I doubt it ever happens.
Comparision of numbers of streamings from Hulu and YouTube is misleading. Most of the Hulu streamings are much longer (25 minutes or more) and contains some advertising. YouTube streams are much shorter and no ad revenues associated with it. I personally like Hulu content as it does not have lot of crap videos like YouTube. But YouTube has more original content that is brilliant occasionally. So I watch both
I think comparing Hulu to Youtube it is a bad mistake that TechCrunch keeps making.
“Hulu streamed an estimated 380 million videos in March in the U.S., compared to 5.9 billion for YouTub”
This doesn’t tell me anything. A YouTube clip may only be 27 seconds long. Everything on Hulu is a complete show. This needs to be looked at in terms of time spent or something else that has meaning. Raw views just doesn’t do it and, even worse, is a bit misleading.
Some are clips, not full shows.
Yes, it is a dumb metric. The right way to present this data would be X minutes. You could say hours but I think given the fact that the majority of content is less than a full hour, this is the most appropriate unit of measurement.
On Hulu, let’s say there was a fair amount of viewing between clips and full shows and movies. I don’t know enough to estimate this roughly, but let’s round out the average min/video = 15 minutes. 380m * 15 = 5,700,000,000
On YT, the average video is likely anywhere between 2.5–3 min. 2.5 * 5.9b = 14,750,000,000
From this perspective, they really are neck and neck in terms of viewership when you factor in how long its taken YT to reach that volume compared to Hulu.
For clarification: my “Some are clips” comment refers to Hulu videos.
Can I get a few minutes to edit my comments post-publish, TechCrunch?
that is bad for Youtube. Ouch. *sting…
now if only the Flash player on Hulu didn’t bring my computer to it’s knees
Two entirely different things, comparing them shows a lack of understanding of usage ( and a myopic view of “who gonna make me more money!?!?!? ).
YouTube is for user created content, a personal TV station. Hulu is a top down, watch what we tell you, B2B – apples and oranges.
I expect next TechCrunch post to be:
“…local super market push-pin bulletin board should worry about the new million square foot shopping mall.”
I think Youtube is the new Clown Co for 2009. Those arrogant Silicon Valley douches didn’t think big media could build a video streaming site.
Arrington was railing againt Hulu before they launched(for almost no reason imo) simple because he thought big media was full of tards. Talk about way wrong. Hulu is anything but Clown Co. now. YouTube is the new Clown Co. until they find a business model. Losing 500 million a year deserves the title Clown Co.
Gormo…are you from the Silicon Valley..cause I am and I sooo AGREE with you. I cannot believe that this company has worked against themselves. HULU is comming and anyone who doesn’t think so..is about to realize how much money HOLLYWOOD really has…LOL Get ready..cause I am getting prepared
Never cite the number of videos served when you compare YouTube and Hulu. This is like comparing pretzels eaten with meals during the course of a day.
Use the minutes served per unique user. When was the last time you sat through 2 hours of youtube? But for me spending 2 hours on Hulu is not such a rare thing anymore. I use it as my DVR to catch up on missed TV shows and occasionally watch full length movies.
Now Hulu needs Viacom and CBS to join in on the fun. That would wrap up all the major networks AND MTV could fold their music video service into Hulu to really deliver a low blow to YouTube.
Then (IMO) they merge Hulu with TV.com
You are speaking truth..straight truth
How will the cable companies respond to these developments that take advantage of “their” costly infrastructure improvements (or lack of).
I still recall when Hulu was launched and the skepticism it got from bloggers… its interesting to see how it slowly and consistently rose to the 3rd spot.
HULU has excellent viewing experience and with Disney it will definitely get an edge with the Media companies
Hulu has a great site that will only get better from a content standpoint. I’ve been using Hulu for quite some time, often HDMI-ing my laptop to a 60″ flatty to watch movies with about 90 seconds of ads.
Beats the heck out of being programmed to watch a certain show at a certain time.
In the final analysis, most one-hour shows are only about 42 minutes.
It’s way too early to tell how successful Hulu is going to be as a major video player. Hulu’s premise is that consumers want to watch the networks’ tv shows which is a big assumption since vast majority of primetime viewers skews older than 40+ and most under 30 do not know much about the networks’ programming or shown any real interest in their formats or characters.
As Dwight would say, “False!”
http://www.hulu...owse/popular/tv
I’ve never seen a better representation of the 18-35 demographic.
I haven’t owned a TV in years thanks to Hulu. Folks at Hulu are very good at the craft, I really didn’t how to feel the other night, after realizing that they preloaded me with a 30 seconds commercial before showing me a movie trailers. It felt unreal.
Uh-oh. Disney will probably drag in their “Secret” partner, Comcast – and then we’ll have the same crap authentication demand that they’re trying on Fancast.
Hulu was our one and only hope. This is bad.
What someone said above. If they added CBS with big bang and HIMYM I’m sold. Untill then, Megavideo wi/ crappy quality.
exactly…you hit is right on the head!!!
I guess I don’t see the comparison really with Youtube. Seems to me they offer much different content and don’t directly compete with each other. Hulu has TV shows and Movies, while Youtube has teenagers dancing in front of their webcams.
Ok Google, who is the ClownCo now? (remember Google internally called Hulu “ClownCo” when it was announced)
GOOGLE WAKE UP!!!! {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/13qrSsgAxB_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”GOOGLE WAKE UP!!!! ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/2aaS6PvgA5″}}}
I still think hulu is a dud. All this hype and overhead costs and it is still la distant #3. That is not success in my book. Stock market keeps surging http://iamned.com/blog/ recession is over
i said it before and i say it again, while hulu still only works in the U.S and not globably, hulu SUCKS as far as the rest of the planet is concerned.
CBS has a site just like hulu its called tv.com I has a good amount of their shows
How is this bad for YouTube? There only a finite number of investors that Hulu can hold… and those investors will use their resources to block out the competition… INSURING that You Tube will be around… as well as other competitors… Maybe just without an official Disney channel (assuming Disney puts all their eggs in one basket – Hulu)
This sounds like Disney has thrown in the towel when it comes to online video. They and CBS had a chance to really compete and differentiate their digital offerings, but now only CBS remains. Interesting to see if they will be able to hold out, I think they should.
Giving competition to youtube is not going to be easy at all, as the big Daddy Google will come up something creative to take care of it
I can watch youtube videos in Canada and I cannot watch Hulu videos here. I will continue to bash the service until they make their videos accessable to everyone, anywhere, anytime.
It seems like people only have a few year attraction span to even the best internet technologies. Anyway Hulu should make itself more open to user created content or working with smaller media outfits.
NBC and FOX ad sales folks *hate* Hulu and compete aggressively against Hulu ad sales. ABC is going to learn that HULU is a major channel conflict creator.
Perhaps it’s time to stop watching so much television; are there not better things to do than sit in front a glass screen?
The competition is great. Creates great specialty niches and better products. All part of the evil plot to take over the world…
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