Victim of Culture

ABC joining Hulu is why it succeeds

Wait, something happening now can not explain past success, can it?  I mean, unless we were the Lost castaways…oh, wait, ABC?  Gotcha.  Actually, the point is nearly as convoluted as Lost, and that’s a good thing.

Hulu.com was a joint startup between NBC Universal and Fox.  The idea was to bring the media properties of both giants under one banner online, and it has worked.  Within 18 months of launching it has become the third most popular video site.  So, what’s the secret to its success and why is ABC so eager to join up forces with its two competitors?

To understand Hulu as a web site, you must first look at how other mediums work.  Television works because all you need is an initial investment for a television, and then the interface is as simple as pressing up and down buttons.  This can be made more complicated through digital cable and satellite, but even those options still allow for the simple up and down button push.  Essentially, television just works and the interface is streamlined for the masses.

Compare that to the web sites of ABC, NBC, Fox, and CBS.  Each has a different interface and is crowded with additional content beyond the video content.  Each may use a different browser plugin or video format for streaming.  Quality may vary wildly, as might the way one is advertised too.  For example, on ABC’s web site you have to click a button to proceed at the end of commercial breaks.

Hulu, on the other hand, provides a unified interface for all three networks.  Its content is entirely video based and the interface is about as simple as possible to use.  No, it isn’t exactly as simple as television, but then again, it’s probably just as simple as many digital cable guides.  Point being, Hulu mimics television in its simplicity, with quality programming easily accessible from a variety of partners via a standard interface.

For all that consumers crow about wanting standards when it comes to media distributions (MP3, Blu-ray, etc.), the distributors have been slow to catch on.  Now, perhaps their biggest success of the digital age (ruling out iTunes, where credit goes to Apple) comes for a unified format and interface.  Who’d have thought?

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