Hulu
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Hulu is an ad-supported online video service that offers on-demand streaming content including popular TV shows, movies, and other clips from many networks including FOX, ABC, and NBC. The Hulu team shares the company with The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, News Corporation, and Providence Equity Partners.[1] Starting as a subscription-based service, Hulu is now free for all users, but also provides a premium service called Hulu Plus, which provides more content on additional devices for $7.99 a month.[2] Hulu Plus presents ethical concerns in that many users piggyback off of a friend's account information, and they are able to take advantage of the Hulu Plus services without actually paying for them. Hulu's headquarters are located in Los Angeles, California.
Contents
History
Hulu, literally meaning "gourd" or "interactive recording" in Mandarin, was founded in March of 2007 in partnership with AOL, Comcast, MSN, MySpace, and Yahoo. It started with an invitation-based beta testing only available in the U.S. Jason Hilar was appointed CEO in 2007. Additionally, in 2007 Hulu won "Best Video Startup" at the 2007 Crunchies, an event sponsored by TechCrunch, GigaOm, and VentureBeat[3].
On March 12th, 2008, Hulu opened its services to the U.S. public, starting with over 250 T.V. shows and 100 movies from FOX, NBC, and their affiliated channels[4]. In 2008, The Walt Disney Company became an equity owner of Hulu, adding many of Disney's most popular shows including shows like Lost, Grey's Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives.[5] In late 2008, a "Discussions" tab was also added underneath the video player that allowed users to engage in discussion.
In 2011, the Hulu Plus app was created for Android smart phones. The app was originally designed for the Nexus One, Nexus S, HTC Inspire 4G, Motorola Droid II, Motorola Droid X, and the Motorola Atrix, but by the end of the year, was available on over 200 million devices including Microsoft's Xbox 360, other types of smart phones, and tablets such as the Barnes and Noble's NOOK tablet and Amazon's Kindle Fire. Hulu also launched in Japan in late 2011, they year when they began allowing users to have access to show programs limited to four devices for one monthly price.
Hulu launched Hulu AdZone, presented by Toyota, which offered all of the Super Bowl ads going back as far as 1973[6]
On April 17th, 2012, Hulu announced a "100% Completion Rate" deal with advertisers using their services - if advertisements were not streamed until they were finished, advertisers were not charged.[7]. Previously available for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, on September 10th, 2012, Hulu Plus became available on the third major gaming platform: Sony's Playstation 3.
As of 2011, Hulu Plus has 1.5 million subscribers, making it the fastest video subscription service to reach that number in U.S. history. In 2012, Hulu added its own original programming, including the Hulu original sitcom, "Battlefield," which premiered in February.[8]
Advertising
In 2010, Hulu reported that it averaged $0.143 in revenue from ads per episode watched,[9] and in 2011, Hulu generated the highest number of video ads in the U.S. at 963 million ads viewed[10]. Hulu also began asking users to rate whether or not ads were relevant to them - ads deemed irrelevant would be replaced with different ones.[11]
Features
Hulu provides streaming content in Flash Video format in 288p, 360pm, 480p, and for some in 720p HD.
Hulu Plus
Hulu plus is a monthly subscription service that now has over 2 million customers. It launched its beta on June 29th, 2010 and officially launched to the public on November 17, 2010. Contrary to popular belief, Hulu plus still has the same commercials as Hulu, but has a wider library of content for users to view. It has full seasons and more episodes of shows that Hulu does not provide. Hulu Plus also unlocks the Hulu app for iOS and Android smart phones and tablets.
Hulu Desktop
Hulu recently introduced a beta version of Hulu Desktop, a free application that provides Hulu content using a PC or Mac remote and does not require the use of a web browser. No account is needed to use Hulu Desktop; it will be equipped with all of the same content from online sources. It is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs.[12]
Hulu Publisher Tools
Hulu Publisher Tools, designed for bloggers and webmasters, makes it easy to embed Hulu content into articles and blog posts. It also serves as a directory of the most relevant and popular videos on Hulu accessible at any time.[13]
Availability
Currently, Hulu is only available in the United States and Japan.[14] Exclusive deals for the digital rights of many U.S. shows would make it difficult for Hulu to go global. However, Kilar has said "We Won't be satisfied until this is a global service". [15] Hulu's latest step in achieving this goal was making a deal with FremantleMedia Enterprises to distribute its original shows outside the U.S. [16]
Devices
Hulu is supported and available on a multitude of devices. The list includes the Apple iPad, iPhone, Roku, Samsunk TVs and Blu-ray Disc Players, Sony BRAVIA Internet-Enabled Devices, Sony PlayStation 3, VIZIO, and Xbox. Other technologies allow for programs to be watched on a television. [17]
Content
Hulu is partnered with hundreds of different studios. Some prominent ones include: [18]
- ABC
- BBC
- CNBC
- Comedy Central
- Food Network
- Fox
- MTV
- NBC
- PBS
- Spike
- Warner Bros
Hulu Original Series include:
- The Morning After
- A Day in the Life
- Battleground
- Spoilers
- Up To Speed
Hulu competition includes HBO Go and Netflix.
Ethical Implications
Hulu Plus
Many people have access to Hulu Plus without paying for its services. Users are using accounts of family members, within a household, or among a group of friends who subscribe to the service. With a simple login of an email address and password, Hulu Plus is easily shared beyond the account user. The attempt to address this ethical issue is the service's stated license agreement that say that users can only stream to one device at a time, further emphasizing that the service allows for only one stream per account.[17] This restricts multiple users from streaming at the same time. As of now, there is no way to restrict the sharing of streaming content within the current business model.
Hulu Sued Over New Tracking Technology
Hulu, suspended use of KISSmetrics' analytics service after it emerged late last week that the company was using "ETag" technology to track users even when they delete their cookies. [19] After this incident was reported, two consumers filed lawsuits against Hulu, Joseph Garvey and Stacey Tsan, who argue that the companies' tracking methods violate the federal Video Privacy Protection Act as well as California state laws. It was also seen that Hulu was sharing its users' information with the popular social media music platform, Spotify. Hulu was reported to have created numerous, alternative, 'shadow' mechanisms for tracking as well.
Hulu Competitors
The following is a list of video streaming services that can be considered competitors of Hulu. Even though these companies all go about funding their services to the public in different ways they still provide similar services and can be deemed Hulu's competition for customers.
- YouTube
- Netflix
- Joost
- Desksite
- Tidal TV
- Mordern Feed
- EPIX
- FreeTube Online TV
- OVGuide
- blinkx
- TVGeroge
- Revision3
- Veoh
See Also
References
- ↑ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/hulu_llc/index.html,
- ↑ http://www.hulu.com/plus?src=top-nav/
- ↑ http://techcrunch.com/2008/01/18/2007-crunchies-the-winners/
- ↑ http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/magazine/16-10/mf_hulu?currentPage=all
- ↑ http://www.businessinsider.com/disney-joins-hulu-2009-4
- ↑ http://www.webpronews.com/relive-super-bowl-commercial-history-with-hulus-adzone-2012-01
- ↑ http://mashable.com/2012/04/17/hulu-advertisers-100-percent-ad/
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/business/media/hulu-the-online-tv-site-adds-original-programming.html?ref=hulullc
- ↑ http://gigaom.com/video/hulu-defends-ad-split/
- ↑ http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/8/comScore_Releases_July_2011_U.S._Online_Video_Rankings
- ↑ http://www.dmnews.com/hulu-revamps-ad-pricing-model/article/236837/
- ↑ http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2350008,00.asp
- ↑ http://www.socaltech.com/hulu_launches_publishing_tool__linux_support/s-0024490.html
- ↑ http://www.hulu.com/support/article/171122
- ↑ http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a240992/hulu-puts-uk-launch-back-on-agenda.html
- ↑ http://www.fremantlemedia.com/news/news-detail/12-03-12/FremantleMedia_Enterprises_Signs_Global_First_Look_Deal_for_Hulu_Original_Programming.aspx
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 http://www.hulu.com/support/article/197541
- ↑ http://www.hulu.com/partners
- ↑ http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/155032/#axzz2E2mrC8NE
- ↑ http://venturebeatprofiles.com/company/profile/hulu/competitors
External Links
- www.hulu.com
- www.hulu.jp
