Hulu Getting Big Shows, But Not Big Audiences
Jun 12th, 2008 | By James Lewin | Category: Internet TV, Streaming Video, Video 
Internet research firm HitWise reports that, while Hulu is getting big shows, it’s not getting big audiences.
Hulu.com., the joint venture between Fox and NBC that provides streaming video content online, came out of beta on March 15 and has seen a steady share of US Internet traffic since:
Alexa’s reach chart mirrors this:
The site ranked 33 among Multimedia websites last week and 84 among television websites.
While it is often compared with YouTube, YouTube is attracting nearly 300 times more traffic than Hulu.com.
Hulu’s developing a library of great long-tail content, but it’s limited by the fact that this content is only available through their Web interface on a computer. To get really big, Hulu will need to cut deals to deliver its content to Internet set-top boxes like Apple TV and work to make viewing Internet television as easy as viewing traditional television.
Hulu is great, but unless and until there’s an easy way to view the content on TV or download it to a portable device, I don’t see a site like this taking off. Most people just don’t like to watch TV on a computer for 30 or 60 minutes.
Steve – good point & when we do watch a show on Hulu on the computer, we’re going to be checking email during all the commercials.
Hulu advertisers, if theyh are smart, should be putting the thumbscrews on Hulu to get this on Apple TV and other set-top boxes asap.