REVIEW

Website Review: Hulu.com Offers Ad-Supported Streaming Video Content

Written by Alice Jester
Published March 18, 2008
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What About the Rest of the World?

The biggest complaint I've read by far within the online community is that Hulu cannot be accessed outside of the US. That presents an understandable limitation. For one, advertisers are selling products in the US and won't get as much benefit from a viewer in Germany seeing their ad. Second, many of the episodes and clips are of shows that haven't aired in other countries yet and likely won't for up to six months or more. TV studios can't risk their syndication deals with foreign television stations by providing the shows first online, even though people in these countries are finding ways to get copies of the episodes anyway.

The best solution is to offer a different website with different content for each country, but that model involves significant time and resources, thus making it several years away. There lies the big disadvantage in chasing this whole new cash cow of ad-supported online streaming. The big media companies are forgetting that the Internet is a global medium. Again, that fact wasn't lost on YouTube.

As with any product or service using clever marketing slogans to make us believe it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, living up to the hype is a near impossible task. All in all though, Hulu is a nice start. I didn't spend countless hours on their site like they said I would, but I'll go back here and there when I'm looking for something specific, or to see how they are progressing with adding new content. In the meantime, I'm happy with the HD quality shows on my TiVo. I can fast forward through those unwanted ads.

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Alice Jester in a fit of insanity left her 17 year career in Information Technology for a shot of writing for a living. In her words, "life is short". Her interests are vast, her creativity endless, and her obsession with television, the entertainment industry, sharing corporate horror stories and raising two children should be enough to keep her busy for years.
Keep reading for information and comments on this article, and add some feedback of your own!
Website Review: Hulu.com Offers Ad-Supported Streaming Video Content
Published: March 18, 2008
Type: Review
Section: Video
Filed Under: Culture: Advertising and Marketing, Sci/Tech: Internet, Video: Film and TV Business, Video: Television
Writer: Alice Jester
Alice Jester's BC Writer page
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Comments

#1 — March 18, 2008 @ 23:04PM — snowcrous

I have been watching movies/TV shows from hulu.com for a while . I love Hulu!!! What it offers is awesome. The user interface is simple, elegant and so easy to use. There are plenty of full length episodes and movies. But I have never experienced choppy viewing as you describe here. By the way, I am using internet connection via the cable company.

#2 — March 19, 2008 @ 12:17PM — Alice Jester

Snowcrous - Thanks for letting me know you are loving the site. It does have many wonderful features and I'm glad see someone out there is getting the benefit.

It's good you're getting decent video streaming on a cable modem. I think that's the trouble with these online streaming sites, they're catering to the highest speed connections possible and pushing the bandwidth. My DSL line is slower than cable, but there are many DSL users out there that want to check out this site. Also, I heavily use wireless, and the experience is worse through a wireless connection. Many people will also be accessing the same way, and might end up disappointed.

Hopefully I'll come back in the near future and many of the issues will have been ironed out.

#3 — March 19, 2008 @ 19:51PM — MGersh [URL]

I am disappointed by online video, so far. (Full disclosure: I was associated with an online video site, Reeltime.com, for the last two years) The selections are thin, and poorly presented. On Hulu, the TV shows are limited to a mere pick of a few episodes, then some clips. I saw House on Hulu for the first time, and I really liked it. But I was only able to find two episodes, and those were the last two, at that. I like to view shows from the oldest to the latest, and that is impossible on Hulu. I would really like to see the last four seasons, and then the first ten from season 5. That would be a better incentive to get me to watch on television than two episodes were.

Online video has a long way to go. They all need to get better at search, or stocking the shelves of their video store. And they need WAY more selection. Once they do that, online video will change the way we view entertainment, no doubt.

#4 — April 10, 2008 @ 17:13PM — ReelTimeKing

Hello MG,

I remember you from when you were at ReelTime. We exchanged e-mails a number of times. I am sorry you are no longer with the company, but I understand your reasons. I am still invested there. I should have sold about the time that Ro came on board. But who was to know that they wouldn't get their act together. You know what I think will make it work. I know you see the same problems I do, not only for ReelTime, but for the industry as a whole. I have exchanged e-mails with JD and talked to him on the phone. He says he agrees, but nothing seems to happen. I don't know why the process is so slow. They need to do something to be competititve, and people will pay for the service. Wish you the best in whatever you are doing now.

Gonzalo

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