Hulu Shines
People like hulu, much to everyone’s surprise, and while they dodge daggers and commentary from just about everyone else, the general response is that people are really thinking that Hulu might be a contender in the on line streaming world. So if NBC and Co. are really getting it, making it user friendly, making it fun and egadging, then they might really have a winner in the longer run, which means ITunes, Unbox, and others have some serious competition. This is not what people were thinking about Hulu in the first place, so it is refreshing to see an expectation of disaster dashed when the reality of it all comes out.
From a demo (here are some screen shots of pages) I was given Friday by Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, the boyish former Amazon exec who seems to have learned to swim well with the Hollywood sharks, I am impressed thus far. I will, of course, reserve judgment until I get to test-drive it for a while, but in concept and tone and aims–that is, more open than I ever expected the service to be–it is off to a good start. (Actual reviews of these sites I will leave to Walt Mossberg.) Source: Boomtown
In all, this is really refreshing to see, and more interesting as the reaction of the blogosphere takes a step back from instant snark, to grudging respect. While comments maybe reserved, the real bottom line of this is going to be how well it is going to be adopted by the general public. While it is great that we are pundits with a cause, it will be crucial that Hulu works out a way to make the public happy, compete with ITunes, and the plethora of other sites both legal and illegal that deliver streaming media content.
Hulu needs to be compelling, from the on line responses, it might just end up being that way.
The longer term influences of Hulu also remain to be seen, but as an initial foray into streaming media that they directly control, as Boom Town states, there is a general level of grudging respect for what they are doing, and in the longer run, if Hulu is found to be compelling and unique, they might just place in the game.
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