Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!
I have not seen any information implying that offering full episodic content online is at the expense of increased television viewing. Until that time comes, I believe it’s fair to say that so long as operating costs can be covered by advertising to millions of viewers each day, watching millions of ads, than there is no reason to expect content will stop being available online.
True, the concerns of future cannibalization could lead networks to act sooner rather than later. But who knows what the MSOs are planning in the the meantime. Given the expectations of millions of viewers now accustomed to watching content online legally, any quick removal of content would surely create a breeding ground for rampant piracy.
Regardless of the outcome, consumers should not be the least bit worried of being able to watch content on their laptop, desktops, and phones. Content owners know people will watch content on those platforms, and they’ll take some revenue rather than none. Of course, none of this means that hulu is the right platform or solution.
One of the big differences between advertising on television and advertising on Internet television, is that a measurement standard is in place for evaluating different properties. To date, you can rarely find weekly online viewership numbers for the latest episodes of Lost, The Office, Heroes, 24 or any other shows for that matter. Perhaps the networks are sharing these numbers with their advertisers. But given that the only public information are monthly viewers or videos played (and distributed 30-60 days after the month being reported), I find it hard to believe they are.