Hulu Archive

Back in December, comScore reported that online video site Hulu reached 235 million streams which moved them into 6th place on the top 10 online video streams list. Today comScore released their latest videos viewed list for March 2009 and Hulu has moved up to the 3rd spot with 380 million videos.

This puts Hulu right behind Google/YouTube and Fox Interactive and moves Hulu above Yahoo, Microsoft and Viacom. To put the 380 million mark in perspective, Google including YouTube videos were viewed over 5 billion times.

comScore is also reporting that for the month of March, Google/YouTube passed 100 million unique viewers. Hulu came in with 41 million viewers which puts the online video service in the 4th slot.

Other notes from comScore include: 77.8 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video and the average video length was just over 3 minutes.

Do you find yourself watching a lot of videos on Hulu? To be honest I’ve only used the service when I have missed a TV show that they offer (e.g. Lost, Chuck, etc.).

This looks like it’s going to go ten rounds people. First Boxee runs Hulu content. Then Hulu blocks Boxee. This morning Boxee launched a work-around based on RSS feeds. Now Boxee has told their users that Hulu is blocking the Boxee browser. So for now once again, it’s no Hulu content on Boxee.

Boxee co-founder Avner Ronen notes on the Boxee blog:

we just found out that Hulu blocked the boxee browser from accessing the Hulu site. this is a disappointing development since their RSS feeds are publicly available, and our browser, while optimized for a great 10 ft video experience, is no different in how it accesses this content than Internet Explorer, Firefox, Flock, Opera or any of the other browsers out there.

Boxee is down but not out – let’s see what they do next!

Update: Greg Sandoval at CBS was able to track down a Boxee employee and has some quotes regarding the service interruption.

Last month video network Hulu requested that media center Boxee remove all of the Hulu video streams. Today NY-based Boxee is announcing that they have been able to partially figure out a way around the ban/block by utilizing RSS feeds. If you download the latest Boxee release, you can import media RSS feeds which can include sources Google Video, Yahoo!, YouTube and also Hulu public feeds. Apparently it’s not as sexy as the former integration but it will get you by. You can also import media RSS feeds from any website.

Boxee staff does note that today’s release hasn’t gone through much testing so don’t moan if it turns your mac into a pc.

Boxee is also launching an "App Box" which allows for easy installation of new applications. They note that there’s also native support for 3rd party repositories so developers can send out apps without having to go through the main Boxee app library. I wonder if this is one of the ways Boxee will monetize…by charging for featuring certain apps.

Check out my video interview with Boxee co-founder Avner Ronen.

Can’t make it to Times Square this year for the New Year’s Eve bash? Don’t want to go out in what looks to be a freezing cold, blustery night? Would you rather ring in the new year on Friendfeed or Twitter? I’ve got two words for you: Mogulus and Hulu.

NY-based online video streaming provider Mogulus has setup a New Year’s Eve Times Square channel which will be live from 4pm ET tonight. They have partnered with some of the Gannett properties which will run the feed on their newspaper websites as well.

Hulu will run a live channel from Times Square beginning at 10pm ET. Hulu notes that their coverage, "will include views of Times Square and the crystal ball, plus the ambient sounds of the party as NYC winds up to count down to 2009."

Happy New Year to all of the awesome CN readers. Please be safe! 2009 looks to be a very exciting year!

SplashCast and Hulu have announced a new partnership today that will bring shows from Hulu into SplashCast widget video players. Basically what the partnership does is allow a person to embed a "channel" into their Facebook and MySpace profiles along with blogs which will continue to import the latest episodes and content. This keeps the content more current than an individual Hulu embed.

From the release, "The SplashCast player includes full episodes and clips from various seasons of each show, as well as interviews with the show’s characters, producers, and more. Fans can even upload their own humorous photos and videos for all to see, as well as view, rate and comment on photos and videos submitted by others."

SplashCast will sell ads into the embedded players. I wonder what that experience will be like to interact with advertising in the player and then interact with advertising in the actual Hulu videos and clips.

Last month SplashCast partnered with 70 radio station websites.

comScore is out with their latest U.S. online video report today. Back in May comScore listed Hulu for the first top in the top 10 with 88 million videos viewed. Today Hulu has moved up in comScore’s online video report for October to sixth position with 235 million videos viewed. Pretty amazing growth for a service some called crap before Hulu actually launched.

Other notable facts from the report:

• YouTube passed the 100 million U.S. visitor mark for the month of October
• ESPN listed in tenth position for views – I wonder how many of those views come from their auto-launcher on the espn.com home page (hate that feature)
• All of Google’s video sites pushed out more than 5.3 billion video views for October

Video hosting provider Hulu has announced a distribution partnership with the Food Network today. Actually the deal is with Scripps Networks who owns Food Network and will also include clips from Fine Living, HGTV and DIY. The initial batch of clips range from 2-4 minutes and most carry a 30-second pre-roll video ad. That’s some ratio of content to ad!

I actually had the opportunity to spend a week at the Food Network studios about two years ago. It’s amazing the talent that they have – from the stars in front of the camera to the massive work behind the camera. If you think it’s hard to get a movie star to do what the producer wants, just imagine what it’s like to keep a cake in perfect condition for an hour under the studio lights. The food is very pampered!

I am not sure if these Scripps Networks clips can be viewed worldwide but if they can, it would be an excellent way for Scripps to draw in a brand new set of viewers.

Check out my post about Food Network star Giada DeLaurentiis and what she can teach you about passion-centric communities.

Here’s a sample of the Food Network clips on Hulu: