November 11, 2008
Early this week, YouTube revealed a deal it has in the works to let users watch a number of full length movies and old TV shows from MGM. However according to Saul Hansell of the New York Times, it is Hulu that dominates this section of the online video space: "after a year, Hulu.com, the joint venture between NBC and Fox, has become the most prominent site for mainstream TV shows and, increasingly, movies."
Says Jim Packer, MGM’s co-president: “We will have some long-form videos up on YouTube, but I don’t think that’s the platform to have 30 or 40 movies up at once. I feel much more comfortable doing that on a site like Hulu.”
According to Hansell, YouTube's problems (and hence Hulu's success) stem from a couple of different issues. For one thing, the site is difficult to navigate: "the site itself is a mess." Yet another factor tipping the scales towards Hulu: "Studios are wary of YouTube’s historically lax attitude toward posting copyrighted material. Many media companies worry about the rising power of Google over their own business. And some worry about having their multimillion-dollar epics shuffled in between home videos of babies plopping the pudding on their hair."
Comments | 9 Total
November 11, 2008 at 12:34pm by Brendan Collins
I agree. Unless YouTube can figure out how to make money off its amateur videos, then legally-available video with commercials is the only viable option for online video. It wouldn't surprise me to see the two companies eventually meet somewhere in the middle, though.
November 11, 2008 at 12:57pm by Aditya Bhaskar
There may be some meat in this but this article just looks like a plain PR plug!
November 11, 2008 at 1:28pm by david winston
SITES TO WATCH FOR:
http://www.hulu.com/
http://www.greentechmedia.com/
November 11, 2008 at 4:24pm by Barry Morris
Not unless it radically expands away from traditional media.
November 11, 2008 at 6:54pm by Drew Stewart
Hulu seems to have figured out the magic strategy for online video advertising at the moment (i.e. 2 minutes of commercials for 22 minutes of content- a better ratio than TV). As more networks go for the Hulu model, I think you're gonna see Youtube move closer and closer to becoming a Hulu clone (they've already added a "theater" viewing feature that mimics Hulu). The point is, even if Youtube remains the most popular video site, it won't be making the most ad money, and that's what REALLY matters.
November 12, 2008 at 8:12am by Steve Prattt
Hulu LOOKS amazing, but for those of us not in the U.S., we can't actually watch any of the content because the entire service has been geo-fenced. So until Hulu reaches out to the rest of the world, it will not be a true YouTube killer... (it sure does it look like a phenomenal service, though)
November 15, 2008 at 1:56am by Tiffani Bell
I really agree that Hulu is an entirely more compelling service than Youtube. I have my listing of favorite videos on Youtube, but the interesting thing is that most of the list is of videos that could be potentially offered on Hulu one day, i.e. music videos from the original artists. 95% of the other stuff on Youtube just doesn't interest me.
Indeed, Hulu appeals to the idea that I don't watch TV anymore in the typical sense either. It conforms much more greatly to the fact that I rarely want to watch the shows I watch when they actually come on, but I'm not in a position to have a TiVo or a DVR, though. Hulu also has stuff you'd actually want to watch and not just the throwaway content, so that's a plus too!
November 23, 2009 at 3:08am by renwen yan
Video Cutter is a very useful software which can easily help you to cut video clips.
iTouch Converter for Mac has the feature of converting video to iTouch (iPod touch, iPod touch 2) compatible video formats on Mac OS.
December 4, 2009 at 4:11am by thw rye
i think it is not hard to implement it, youtube can just add a channel for MGM or other film factory. also, youtube can divide the video as free and pay. but if youtube really do this, is it still youtube? as for me, i usually convert swf to flv and upload to youtube sharing, it's a party of my life.