Analysts Say Hulu is DOA
As expected, NBC-Fox online video joint venture Hulu is losing steam before it even starts.
NBC Universal and Fox appeared set this spring to shake up Internet video with the announcement of a joint venture expected to challenge Google Inc.’s (GOOG) YouTube.
Six months later, that business - now dubbed Hulu - has lost cachet and may become irrelevant even before its delayed start. Many question the need for another online video site and wonder how Hulu fits into the broad Web- distribution strategies most media companies already are pursuing.
“Hulu is overkill,” said Kathy Sharpe, chief executive of Sharpe Partners, a New York interactive advertising agency. “It’s becoming apparent that you don’t have to have a Hulu for the networks to put out quality video or trailers to get consumers to watch.”
Hulu’s challenges point to the difficulties media companies face as they try to retain control over how their content is seen and sold in a freewheeling digital world.
Hulu’s struggles are underscored by the lack of media supporters. NBC and Fox have talked with potential content partners, including Viacom Inc. (VIA), owner of MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures; Walt Disney Co.’s (DIS) ABC network; CBS Corp. (CBS); and Time Warner (TWX), parent of the Warner Brothers film studio, TBS, TNT and other cable networks. None has signed on.
For now, other media companies either aren’t interested or playing wait-and- see with Hulu. If the venture proves successful, other media companies could join up but are unlikely to commit to the Hulu venture exclusively. Even in the six months since Hulu was announced, media companies have firmed up their own digital technologies and strategies.
Executives from NBC and Fox said involvement of other companies might limit their flexibility. Even with just two media companies, worries exist that there are still too many cooks in Hulu’s kitchen.
“When big companies partner in a deal, they can have very different needs,” said David Hallerman, senior analyst with research firm eMarketer. “That’s part of my concern about Hulu.”
Welcome to the world of online video, NBC and Fox — where bigger isn’t always better.
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2 opinions for Analysts Say Hulu is DOA
Ron E. Santol
Oct 8, 2007 at 8:52 am
What is with the trend to reinvent the video over and over?
Can you say HULU? Their quality content is available elsewhere. Who needs everything fed to us from one video portal anyway? Personally I see the internet without boundaries of a domain name and NBC already invest in a little startup last year? The one called NBBC. Perhaps the HULU business analysts influenced George Kliavkoff and friends to toss out their wheel and build a brand new wheel far away from NBC and News Corp?
I do love the perky HULU staff and their great smiles with can do attitudes and it wouldn’t surprise me if the company colors are announced as sky blue with rose colored trim. The proof is investors big cash put behind those blue sky smiles and rose colored returns but investors aren’t the ones clicking websites and watching video.
The old school investors of News Corp and NBC are two media giants pretending to be a cool video startup with a hip young staff. And as long as those two lead coelacanths coerce the JV, this dodo bird won’t lay golden eggs. So at the end of the day, when the cash pit dries up, one JV partner will need to buy out the other. Stop pretending to be hip and cool, and bring your thingamabob in house.
TV is for Old Folks
Jul 2, 2008 at 8:41 am
[…] and Fox, meanwhile, still have a few more years to clumsily dick around inside online video with their Hulu before advertisers don’t want their TV audience. Tags: […]
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