I love Hulu. I think the folks behind the platform really get “it.” My latest amazing encounter with them was last night. I logged on and then logged in. After logging in, I was presented with the following message.
I took the survey; it took me less than 5 minutes. And after taking the survey I got designate which charity would benefit from free advertising space on Hulu. The charity aspect aside, here’s what I really liked about this approach.
It shows Hulu wants to provide a superior product. It proves that they understand the concept of mutual exchange; that you get something for giving something. In this case, we’re talking about getting better advertising (yes there is such a thing) for 5 minutes of your time. We’re talking about Hulu figuring out the right balance between advertising and content. They are looking for a way to make sure that the end user is happy.
I love it and think more brands should follow suit. Which reminds me, where’s the twitter survey from the folks @ev or @biz?
2008 was a big year for innovation. New sites were launched. New products came to market. And, I stumbled upon several things that I should have been on top of from the beginning. See, there are lot’s of things that I’ve overlooked…I’m not on top of everything. It was really hard to limit this list to 10, but here we go.
- AllTop – Guy Kawasaki was brilliant for concepting this idea. Alltop aggregates all the top stories/pieces of content from the best websites…so you don’t have to. Talk about a time saver. The site covers topics from fishing to poker.
- Hulu – Great video content served up in HD. Lot’s of solid older (aka canceled) shows. They let you be in charge of what type of advertising you see. The only thing they don’t let you do is download the video.
- MadMen – How did I miss the boat on this one? I ignored the show when it launched. Didn’t pick up on it, after the first season. But, then I decided to tune in 1 night and after the first episode I saw, I said to myself, “why wasn’t I watching this earlier?”
- Red Bull Cola – Passed on trying it in Vegas. Then went on a mission to find it. Finally I found a can. Drank it…and was blown away. It’s a GREAT drink.
- Internet Activity Index – I pride myself on being on top of a lot of different online measurement tools. How it is I never knew about the Internet Activity Index is beyond me. The index measures what people do online and segments the behaviors across 5 categories.
- Twitterific & Twitterfon – Both are iPhone application that let you interact with Twitter. I’ve found that I need them both. They both rock.
- WordPress – for years, my site was built in Flash. It was sexy, but it was a pain to update. Someone recommended I try WordPress and I’ve never looked back. From the plugins to the themes, the community does a great job of making WordPress fantastic.
- What If Sports – This site let’s you simulate games between sports teams from different eras. Want to see how the 2007 Celtics would do against the 1992 Jordan lead Chicago Bulls? This site will let you do it. This site has helped me end so many sports arguments quickly and painlessly.
- Twitter Grader It’s not perfect, but it’s the best tool out there for measuring how good of a tweeter someone is. Twitter Grader is addictive too. I find myself checking my score weekly. It’s another great tool from the folks at HubSpot.
- Amazon MP3 Store: Should have gotten on this wagon/bus/train a while back. When you consider my hatred for DRM music, it just makes sense. Since discovering Amazon MP3, I’ve stopped buying music from iTunes. In fact, I’ve refused to purchase music from iTunes until it becomes DRM free.
What did you discover this year that rocked your world?
The biggest player in long form video has been NBC’s Hulu. The major criticism of Hulu has been the lack of fresh, new, or different content. Hulu offers short clips of a show’s current season and a several episodes (sometimes complete seasons) from previous seasons.
YouTube the largest video site on the web, with over 700,000 new videos a day, has long focused on short videos. With few exceptions, they limit the length of uploaded videos to 10 minutes. Well, that’s about to change thanks to a partnership with CBS. This article outlines the details.
This is big for several reasons:
- It gives us in-video advertising options that previous did not exist
- It shows that video sites are truly desperate for compelling content and on some level content is still king
- It opens the door to agencies and brands creating content for online distribution; we’re talking episodic (think BMW films) video content that can be developed at a minimal investment because the YouTube’s of the world will co-fund it so they can sell ad space during the show
I’m forecasting a little bit, but I won’t be surprised to see it happen in the next 8 months. Nickelodeon and Warner Brothers already does it for partners and Fox has toyed with it in the past.
This is going to be fun!
If you haven’t checked out Hulu yet, you should. The navigation is simple, the quality great, and in my opinion the commercials minimal.
Head of Social Media at Walgreens. Interactive marketer, innovator, boat rocker, continuous learner, movie lover, risk taker, dad and all around good guy. I'm always up for a spirited conversation. These are my thoughts and ramblings, not those of my employer.
