Back in March 2008 when Hulu first launched, I wrote this post wondering: “Will Hulu’s Content Owner’s Think Different” (n.b. the grammar was a play on apple’s ‘think different’ campaign). I was concerned about the depth of content and consistency of content.
Since then Hulu has gone from Clown Co to media darling. They defied the typical odds associated with big joint ventures (Movielink anyone?). They recruited a great team, brought on independent investors and built a fantastic product.
But that product is suffering from inconsistent content and business limitations – not technical limitations.
In May of this year, I wrote down my belief that content owners will get paid if they open up. Hulu was one of the examples in that post.
I believe in the future of online video. I believe that YouTube is going to be a big profitable business for different reasons that Hulu’s prospects but successful nonetheless. There will be other winners in online video as well. We are still in the early days of all of this.
Hulu has an amazing opportunity in front of them. They have many of the important ingredients.
Yesterday, TechCrunch shined a light on Hulu’s content limitations. That’s the remaining piece to the Hulu opportunity. Deliver more reliable and consistent content. Open up. Distribute everywhere.
You will be rewarded.