Hulu is more viable than Youtube.com
Everyone knows about Youtube.com, but not that many know about Hulu.com, atleast until recently. They had an ad during the super bowl, which was bound to help, and have recently in the last couple of months have actively pushed their presence via ads on TV. Like many people when they compete with something Google, atleast my first thought would be, "Google/Youtube/etc. has too much marketshare to be affected by this new product.
There are a couple of reasons that I think may help Hulu outlast Youtube.com
- Hulu.com has liscensed content. Hulu.com is a joint venture between News Corp (Fox TV) and NBC, the
last time I checked. While CSI may be the best overall show on TV (not
including Reality-type shows like American Idol), Fox and NBC have a
pretty good lineup of shows. 24, Heroes, House to name a few.
- Hulu actually owns the content. They own the rights to the content, therefore they can do whatever they
want. They want to put ads, they can. There are no restrictions.
- Hulu has a certain level of quality. If I was to compare the average quality of youtube, as well as the average quality of Hulu, Hulu clearly wins. Personally, I would rather watch higher quality...not sure if anyone else would watch lower quality.
- Hulu can monitize it, and youtube loses money. Can Hulu be losing money right now? Yes, it is a possibility, maybe even more than the rumored $470 million that Youtube is expected to Lose good this year. But, while it may take them money at this point to get it up and running, they can monitize it. They can place ads. They can have user specific ads, they can put ads overlaying their videos, and they have content that everyone wants to see. Does Youtube have things people want to see? Of course, or they wouldn't be in the position they are, but to have an Avril Levigne video as the most watched is odd to me.
Mark Cuban looks at some other ways that Hulu is beating Youtube.
Resource: Do you think Bandwidth Grows on Trees? [Slate]