[criley]

>Hulu, Netflix and Amazon all produce original content and are perfectly positioned to disrupt them as their distribution volume increases.

Uhh, as a Hulu subscriber, I'll just let you know: If I only had "Hulu" content to pick from, I'd cancel my subscription immediately. It's not great stuff, barely worth paying for and CERTAINLY not worth both paying for and sitting through the same 4 advertisements over-and-over-and-over again for.

Basically, I don't care who owns Hulu, but if Hulu isn't getting next-day network television + back catalogs, then I'm not going to subscribe. That's what I want it for, and I imagine I'm not the only one.

[bernardom]

No, no, no. That's not what I meant, sorry if it wasn't clear.

The point isn't that they're buying Hulu for its original programming. It's that if they want to become a major player in the original content space, they'll need a huge user base to start with. For that, they need licensed content.

In other words, my thesis is that TV networks can be disrupted by someone else making original content and distributing it over the web, but the disruptor will need a big number of users to make this possible. It's much easier to get that big user base with licensed content.

Whether it makes sense for Yahoo to be in the studio and production business is another question!

[mikeryan]

But this is only buying an extremely limited license to content. Its a catch 22 the only reason Hulu has had any success is because its had premium content provided by its current owners. If Hulu goes independent the content rights are likely not getting renewed at their current rates.

Note that there were rumors that Google already made an overture to buy Hulu at a price rumored to be 2x the current price but with much longer licensing terms and were turned down.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/google-dish-made-highe...

Unless Yahoo wants to focus more on original programming for Hulu (a strategy I'm behind) then buying it for its current content rights is a fools bet.

[greghinch]

Netflix seems to be doing better at this model. But I'd agree the more competition as we can have in the space, the better.

[glhaynes]

sitting through the same 4 advertisements over-and-over-and-over again for

What is it I don't understand about the online video business that causes this to happen? They can't get enough advertisements from their partners to allow them to be less repetitive? Advertisers don't want to provide variety? (Maybe advertisers specifically want the monotony? Surely not, else they'd follow the same scheme on network TV.) The endless repetition sucks to watch and it makes the whole thing seem amateurish.

[untog]

I think this might be one of the areas that Yahoo could really help. They've got a lot of advertising experience, and would hopefully improve Hulu's ad performance.

Both Hulu and Tumblr have proved that ads can work in their product, but haven't really brought them to any meaningful scale. Maybe that's what attracts Yahoo to them?

[SonicSoul]

this is the absolute worst, along with turned up volume for commercials it's pure evil. if there is a hell, i am sure it will be filled with repetitive commercials breaks.

if i remember watching tv at my parrents, the regular tv networks do the same thing right? my best guess is that they did some psychological studies and such repetition is necessary to program your brain with "WANT ARBY'S SANDWICH"

[espadagroup]

Hulu's CPM's are incredibly high, on par with prime time TV. Not that many companies advertise on TV at those rates; even fewer do so online.

[glhaynes]

Huh. OK, then it surprises me that they charge so much. I guess they're selling their ad space, though? (Hence it being sensible for them to charge such a high CPM rate.)

[criley]

Honestly, I'm just glad someone took that Gangnam Style pistachio commercial out back and shot it finally.

I'm scared to even mention the commercial though, in fear that I will go home and be subjected to another 20-30 plays of it :(

[mortenjorck]

On a tangent, that ad was such a terrible missed opportunity.

Here you have scored this exclusive deal with this impossible international crossover genius comedic rapper, and you sell a pretty delicious product, and all you can think of is a 1950s-style cutesy celebrity endorsement format. Ending with a very pre-Don-Draper, wink-and-a-fake-smile, generic-celebrity-worshipping closer "If Psy does it, we all go nuts."

I really liked Gangnam Style the first 30 times, and I enjoy Wonderful's pistachios, but this was perhaps the most unimaginative intersection of the two possible.

[trhtrsh]

....and you just said the manufacturer's name on a unrelated forum, so their ad campaign was a success.

[michaelt]

So it's impossible to discuss unsuccessful ad campaigns, as doing so immediately makes them successful?

[deegles]

If you're thinking/talking about the ad campaign, it wasn't unsuccessful. The unsuccessful ones are forgotten.

[spullara]

Funny, i'd seen that ad a dozen times and up until now i had no idea who made the ad.

[vivin]

Yeah Hulu-specific content is not that great. The main reason I watch it is for specific TV shows that I want to watch after they air on cable. I canceled my cable two years ago and I haven't looked back since.

[nickconfer]

Right now yes. In the future, who knows.

It doesn't seem like this would go away though. Each of the big streamers are building a specific base set of streamable content.

Amazon is focused on newer films more so than Netflix and Hulu.

Hulu is focused on new television content, with some original programming from overseas shows mostly.

Netflix is focused on older television and movie content, with stronger original programming.

HBO Go will be new movies and strong original content.

Right now there is certainly room for all of these services... I think in the future its highly likely we'll see other channels make a stronger stream crossover (like Comedy Central, Food Network, ESPN, etc..) and we'll basically have content streaming channels. In that world, Netflix, Amazon and HBO GO are still strong, but Hulu might start loosing content or have stronger competition, and that could be problematic.

[aluhut]

House of Cards is great though.

[criley]

Yep, I love Netflix and loved every second of House of Cards! Although I have the opposite issue with Netflix. Lack of constantly added content makes their library feel stale at times, while every time I hit hulu.com it pops up with a list of shows with a "NEW EPISODE!" badge. Keeps you going back!

[jimbobimbo]

Two words: back catalog. My Netflix queue doesn't go shorter, no matter how I try (both DVD and streaming). Sometimes I feel like a kind in a candy store, when drilling down their recommendations.

[beggi]

Man the "same 4 advertisements over-and-over-and-over" bothered the hell out of me as well. If you're going to do video ads, I'm fine with it, really, just don't make me listen to the same ones over and over for months.