Posts tagged Hulu

Hulu’s doing great work.  When emailing a video from Hulu, you can use sliders to choose the start and end times for the clip.  It’s possible at Youtube, but only with a url hack.  Hulu’s solution is simpler for the user without sacrificing any utility.  It’s better. Side note: Here’s the video I noticed this on.  Not quite Impossible is the Opposite of Possible, but pretty damn funny.

Hulu’s doing great work.  When emailing a video from Hulu, you can use sliders to choose the start and end times for the clip.  It’s possible at Youtube, but only with a url hack.  Hulu’s solution is simpler for the user without sacrificing any utility.  It’s better.

Side note: Here’s the video I noticed this on.  Not quite Impossible is the Opposite of Possible, but pretty damn funny.

Hulu to go freemium?

The L.A. Times reports that Hulu is planning to move to a freemium model as soon as May 24th.  Newer content would be free with episode archives available as a premium offering. I for one would pay for Hulu access under the right conditions.  That said, I have at least two issues with the proposed model (with the understanding that the L.A. Times report isn’t official and could in fact be wildly off base).

  • $9.95/month is too high.  If you want to acclimate people to payments, start with something small and incremental (say $15/year or $2/month for access to a certain genre)
  • “Ultimately, Hulu is expected to adopt the same commercial loads as network television. ”  So let me get this straight: you want me to sit through the same absurd commercial load as I get with my HDTV, but not in true HD, AND you want me to pay for it?  I’m already paying for cable!  This better be an either/or, or maybe they’re defining “load” in nominal terms.  I’ll sit through 3 7-second ads (and probably engage more with them), but if you expect me to sit through 3 30-second ads, then you’re trying to charge me for the same shitty experience I already get for free over broadcast.  Not cool.

I’ll tell you something I’d definitely pay for: a Hulu channel in Boxee (provided it used its current content/ad split).  I’d even pay a bit more than I’d have to pay for website access (say $3/month instead of $2).