Learning from Hulu’s Example
12/18/2007, 8 months 3 weeks ago
Since its launch at the end of October, Hulu has changed the opinions of many of its negative critics with outstanding features implemented into a clean and easy-to-navigate interface.
Not only that, but the private beta testing phase that the service has been under since going live also appears to be receiving all of the attention and updates necessary to provide a successful public launch, whenever that may be planned for.
The way I see it, online video offerings from television networks should now be just as much of a priority to update as their traditional TV counterparts as the world continues to move towards more-than-capable broadband internet access speeds at lower costs. The way Hulu has been set up as a company itself, with a complete staff to focus on its sole purpose (IPTV) is defintely a benefit for both News Corp., NBC Universal, and all of the television channels therefore included among the available programming on the service.
I have watched the Hulu library of video content grow since launching and the number of programs continues to increase. Just recently the entire first season of the hit show Roswell was added as well as all 15 original episodes of the FOX series Firefly. Not only that, but several movies are also available on Hulu, in their entirety, with just a few commercials thrown in. My only gripe is that not all of the shows that have been added offer full episodes, as some just have several short video clips.
What is most intriguing about Hulu, however, is not only the amount of content, but the amount of work that has been put into the backend, that provides users with quick load times, hardly any skips during playback, and the wealth of available options and features that can be used at any time while viewing a video. I particularly enjoy the ability to use a timestrip to cut out only a select portion of a video clip or episode to then be emailed to friends.
The service makes it very easy for users to provide feedback, which will be extremely helpful in prioritizing and attending to any problems, issues, or concerns that may arise as the service matures and welcomes more user onboard through invitations.
Other television stations and their parent companies should take note of the successful private launch of Hulu and start deciding what needs to be done to reach the growing IPTV market. Sure, Joost and VeohTV have helped open eyes, but why can't networks get even more involved?
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I received my invite for the Hulu private beta over the weekend and I must say I am shocked at how good it is.
I fully expected the project to be a failure, which is so common with online ventures such as this. Look at the online movie services which have failed to gain wide adoption.
The interface is clean and simple, the video library is growing, and it just plain works as advertised. I am very impressed. If they could get wider adoption from the other networks such CBS and ABC, as well as other channels such as the Discovery Channel, the Travel Channel, etc. on board it could be a game changing service.
Why game changing? Because I wouldn’t need DirecTV anymore. I wouldn’t need cable either.
As it is I am downloading more and more television content via bittorrent and watching it that way so it would certainly be something I would explore. I could do without my $100 per month DirecTV package in favor of Hulu if it had a wide enough library and was updated on a daily basis with new shows.
They certainly are responsive. The newly added complete run of Firefly was initially listed in the original order that FOX aired them in… which in keeping with TV networks’ tendency to destroy great shows was completely wrong. I sent in a bit of feedback and within 24 hours the episodes were resorted into the proper story order.