Hulu and Building a Brand on the Web
It’s funny, about 20 minutes ago I was watching Jon Stewart on Boxee and thinking how amazing it was. (I was also thinking about how annoying it was that advertising hadn’t caught up with online video yet and I had to sit through the same annoying trailer six times while watching the show.) Then I read that Hulu is forcing Boxee to stop including it. Hulu CEO Jason Kilar wrote an apologetic post about it, blaming their content providers (to which Boxee responded).
In addition to Boxee, Hulu also pulled all its content from CBS’s TV.com. AdAge has another side of the story, suggesting that the reason Hulu is actually protecting it’s own turf, because “the exclusive part of that NBC-News Corp. deal lasts only two years, and Hulu knows all too well that the scarcity that helped it establish an audience (and brand) is going away soon.” While this all seems like bad news at the moment, I have to think that the competition is a good thing. As Learmonth closes the article, “It didn’t take long for Hulu to build an audience, and a brand, but going forward, the question is whether it can defend what it has built.” (It’s always good to be reminded of how fast one site can rise and another can fall on the web.)
Hi, I'm 
This is an interesting one. As the UK started with the BBC iplayer which by government accord cant be scarce and must be available to everyone. In the background the commercial stations got together (along with BBC Worldwide which is also commercial… nice loophole) to develop a joint venture model which was called Kangaroo.
Problem is the anti competitive commission just threw it out and now the idea of just one player is gone. They are all going to break up and pretty much make it hard for consumers. I think that the BBC iplayer is forcing everyone to be open to all and not be about scarcity at all. The way the system works is that the commercial stations website will rerun it for 30 days. Then after that it was supposed to go to kangaroo
I was looking forward to having it all in one place
what a clueless move.
I was watching Lost on ABC.com earlier and wishing it was on the technologically far superior Hulu. I think Hulu needs a much better solution to driving people to cerain programs, or at least to make it a more natural selection process, but in terms of smooth streaming I feel they’re the best. BUT I haven’t checked out boxee yet. will do now. From the articles I’ve read on the Hulu team a move like this, old school in its approach, surprises me.
thank god
http://www.brandrepublic.com/Revolution/News/882957/Microsoft-talks-resurrect-Project-Kangaroo/
it would be great for their business in the UK if they get this off the ground
I think pressure from apple was behind hulu’s decision to ban boxee. thankfully, there are plenty of hackers out that will prevent it http://lifehacker.com/5157615/how-to-reinstall-a-working-hulu-in-boxee