Whether or not you believe Hulu can “kick YouTube’s ass,” the folks behind the Web video venture are certainly doing more than a few things right. I got hooked on Hulu when it was still in beta, checking out a few 30 Rock episodes and some of the Scrubs shows I’d missed. But I admit my usage of the site has fallen off. (Largely because when I’m on my computer I get too distracted by all things work.) Now Hulu has a new campaign going that may just suck me back in.
“Hulu Days of Summer” launches a premiere program every weekday through mid-August. So far, Hulu’s put out Lost in Translation (great movie), a Three Stooges collection, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and today’s debut, a long line-up of NOVA shows. I know the gimmick sounds pretty standard, but Hulu’s adding a twist: a Hulu Days of Summer Widget along with an RSS feed. Brilliant move for the all the Web entertainment sites that track this kind of thing.
I also found myself receptive to Hulu’s news because in came in an email update that apparently I opted in for. This may be the first time Hulu’s sent something to me, or it may be the folks there just do it so rarely I’ve forgotten other missives. In any case, since I hadn’t heard from Hulu lately, I was interested to see what they had to say. Other recent updates: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are up on Hulu now, and Hulu has highlights of the NBA championship series. (Sorry Lakers fans…)
OMG That Mark Cuban post is beyond me. Highlights of Maverick games get put up on YouTube and he doesn’t get any money for it, so his response is to claim Hulu has more people using it than YouTube? Dude, YouTube has like a billion page views a year ( more? ).
I request somebody do a comscore or alexa chart thing. Does Hulu even show up?
Still poke around hulu once in a while but it keeps coming up empty when I go looking for a show. For example, I was bored in another hotel room and thought I’d check out Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and they’re gone now. “Returns Fall 2008” it says. Boy, that’s stupid. Just when the new shows come back on and I won’t be looking at hulu anymore… They had a chance to get me hooked on something now that Battlestar is on hiatus. But no… Or the second season episode of Bones where Booth shoots the ice cream truck (my wife says it was funny)… sorry, no that episode isn’t available. LAME.
I assume its something to do with the DVD rentals coming out or something.
Glenn- ice cream truck episode wasn’t bad. In general, Bones is just good fluff.
ive been hooked on hulu since dave gave me a beta invite. its great when i want to grab a show at lunch at work esp if its a show not on my tivo via slingbox. its also cool now that they are adding some movies, specifically monty python
Yeah, the whole vanishing episodes and unpredictable episode lists has pretty much kept me away. These guys still don’t get it. Hello, we’re willing to watch commercials just leave the content up. All of it.
oohhhh, an advertising widget … what will those geniuses think of next? Hulu – NBC.com showing TV on the a web 2.0 name – yea, that’s what we want … what a joke.
If they could make a computer chair that converts into a recliner, then Hulu will be big. Or until I get my Mac Mini on the TV rather than the 24″ Dell screen.
Not just a recliner. I need some kind of extension arm on my monitor to lift it up above my recliner at the right distance from my face… A robot controlled arm even…
quality video sites like hulu, zoogatv and tidaltv have got it right by offering, professional video content like movies, tv shows and comedy. i saw a Paul Mooney video on Hulu over the weekend and man i was hooked. the first time i watched a 53 minute anything on the web.