Video Portal Hulu Launches; Hollywood Seeks To Draw Youtube Blood
How much time do people really want to spend in front of their computers?
This is the golden question that will be answered in the coming weeks by Hulu.com, a video portal, backed by NBC and News Corp, that opened to the public yesterday - after several months of private beta. The site lets users view clips and full-length episodes from TV shows and movies. The videos are completely free, but advertisements are scattered throughout them.
Jason Kilar, chief executive at Hulu, said: “With full-length episodes of current and archived television shows, feature films, sports and news, we believe Hulu is a step forward in giving consumers entertainment on their terms. ” The site currently features about 250 TV shows and 100 feature films. TV shows include:
- The Office
- Simpsons
- Family Guy
- A-Team
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents
- WKRP in Cincinnati
- Monk
- Dr. Steve-O
- Keeping Up with The Kardashians
- Weekend at Bernie’s
- Bulworth
- Andy Barker P.I.
- Scrubs
- Bones
- My Name is Earl
Hulu is the latest attempt by corporate Hollywood to catch onto youtube’s coat-tails. Currently, over 100 million views are recorded every day on youtube, accounting for 27% of the online video market. However, the vast majority of youtube videos are under five minutes - a nice compliment to the tiny attention span of the typical user. Hulu, on the other hand, is obviously featuring much longer content, but since it’s all professional produced, we can assume the content is, generally speaking, of superior quality (or at least superior production value).
So, what’s the fate of Hulu? Personally, I’m not sure, but I hear “The Big Lebowski” is already uploaded, so I’m eager to stop writing and visit the site. The dude abides.
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