This is my room

Why hulu should stop caring about hulu.com

This isn’t going to be a clear, concise and straightforward explanation, but rather a variety of thoughts, which if twisted and turned and put in the right order, will make the proper case.

1. hulu does not appear to have a viable long term business model. They have enough problems selling inventory as it is, and it will only be a short while longer before all the MSOs each have their own full service portals.
2. Online video growth for full-length content has already gone through its most dramatic cycle and is most likely only going to see modest (but still decent) growth from here on out.  mobile consumption wont boost viewership dramatically, as we’re not capable of being mobile AND paying attention to long-form content.  public transit is pretty much the only suitable area for consumption
3. Even with the growth we’ve seen online viewing, the older demographic (which also has all the income) is not going to die off anytime soon, leaving the vast majority of viewing to occur on the television for some time
4. hulu has never released breakdowns of what content people are watching, but it’s my guess that the majority of viewing can be attributed to network programming, and a variety of pick-of-the-week clips. This is the very same content that people currently DVR on their television, and that MSOs will most likely reach out for VoD rights.  It’s also the same content available on the “network.com” sites.  Netflix, Blockbuster and PPV have the movie route covered.
5. hulu cant charge for its service (bc of point #4)

hulu should rethink it’s long term strategy and should embrace the MSOs and telcos.  I don’t have Comcast, but I’ve heard the majority of Fancast content is hulu.  This is where hulu should focus its efforts.  It should become the respresentative of online content for networks.  It will allow the networks to manage what is “free” and what gets rolled up into MSOs+Telcos online offering.  It also, and most importantly, creates a common platform for advertising.

PluggedIn Falls Out

It’s no surprise to me that PluggedIn is in dire straights.  I tried my hardest to use the service when it launched, regularly posting my favorite videos to facebook and checking the site whenever a classic video from the past came to mind, but the responsiveness of the interface was simply too slow.  It seems ridiculuos to me that it has taken YouTube so long to create the right environment for a similar offering.  Had PluggedIn got their stuff together sooner, they may have been able to offer a truly competitive offering in the market.  However, it’s reasonable to assume that any first mover advantage PluggedIn had was never a match for YouTube’s dominance.  That being said, I hope that whatever offering YouTube comes up with allows for a view that only displays official music videos– and more importantly, that doesnt separate content and recommendations by publisher.  No one knows what labels (yes, that’s plural) their favorite artists are on, and such distinctions or limitations will kill the user experience.