Hulu

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 1:40pm on Monday, November 16th, 2009

Sales Staffs Of Hulu And Its Corporate Parents Clash

Mediaweek reported on November 15, 2009:

"The broadcast networks have always had first crack at selling their own shows on Hulu (which is jointly owned by ABC, NBC and Fox) and can buy back inventory from the site at anytime. Hulu’s sales team can’t sell any individual series or network—but instead is supposed to sell buckets of video based on genre or audience demos.

Theoretically, the broadcast nets shouldn’t care whether Hulu or their own staffs sell inventory within their own shows—since the networks are said to pocket 70 percent of ad revenue regardless.

But according to sources, network sales execs, who’ve never been crazy about the idea of another party controlling their content, say that Hulu’s sales staff deliberately sells against its network brethren."

The full story:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/broadband/e3i8f2c0287dc37ec6b5270e8008bf01978

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 2:15pm on Saturday, June 6th, 2009

Soon, you will have to pay for Hulu. So says Jeff Bercovici, writing at the Daily Finance web site on June 3, 2009:

"Don't get too attached to all that free, high-quality video on Hulu. It just might disappear behind a pay wall before too long.

Speaking last night at an Internet Week event sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter, Jonathan Miller, News Corp.'s newly-installed chief digital officer, said he envisions a future where at least some of the TV shows and movies on Hulu, the premium video site co-owned by News Corp. (NWS), NBC Universal and Disney (DIS), are available only to subscribers."

The full story:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/03/soon-youll-have-to-pay-for-hulu/

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 4:36pm on Friday, May 15th, 2009

Who's watching Hulu? Who knows, the New York Times reported on May 14, 2009:

"Does Hulu, the Web’s most popular place for TV viewing, reach nine million people a month or 42 million?

Millions of dollars in advertising revenue may hinge on the answer. But no one seems to know for sure how big the site’s audience is.

Any way the streams of shows like “Fringe” and “30 Rock” are counted, it is clear that Hulu’s growth has been explosive, up 490 percent year over year, according to Nielsen Online. Hulu executives, however, are fretting that the company, one of the leading purveyors of ratings data, is undercounting the site’s visitors. They say Nielsen’s numbers hurt Hulu’s perception among advertisers and the press.

While Nielsen reported 8.9 million visitors to Hulu in March, another measurement firm, comScore, counted 42 million. Exacerbating the confusion, Nielsen’s numbers for April show Hulu losing audience while still managing to add video views, also known as streams."

The full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/business/media/15nielsen.html?_r=2

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 6:20pm on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

Hulu is marching to dominance, Forbes magazine declared on April 30, 2009:

"Walt Disney is buying a 30% stake in Web video venture Hulu and will add shows from its ABC network to the Web site's growing pool of prime-time content. Among the shows Hulu viewers will soon be able to watch are Desperate Housewives, Scrubs and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

The deal demonstrates a long-term bet by General Electric's NBC, News Corp.'s Fox and ABC that TV viewers will eventually turn to the Web as a primary source of entertainment. By making their best content available online, the networks will likely hasten the decline of their already struggling broadcast affiliates, a move that could force users onto the Web in unprecedented numbers."

The full story:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/30/hulu-abc-nbc-fox-business-media-hulu.html