Hulu: first impressions
Firstly, I'd like to give a nod to NBC/FOX for delivering their beta on time.
And like all early over-hyped products, people will complain about the limited functionality without recognizing the significant next steps the product presents.
Check out the comments over at the newly launched Hulu blog. The most common early complaint is the lack of an international streaming capability. Hulu content lives within a fenced environment. This isn't news. International streaming was always disabled off network sites. I'm not getting the gripe.
The other complaint is the lack of consumer control. Once again, this is nothing new. Hulu is a new syndication platform, not a true distribution solution. It was never billed as such.
However, there are a couple of interesting moves I would like to make note of, notably:
- MGM and Sony have both signed on as content providers
- You can cut and clip embeddable elements
- While this may not seem huge, it does represent a significant nod to the social media user
- This is a new level of user empowerment, which I for one will be using quite frequently
Check out this clipped clip below:
While this is certainly a cool feature (and it is still in beta), I would look for more intuitive and advanced clipping functionality in later versions.
Check it out here.
For more extensive coverage on the Hulu launch click here.
Update: for a sampling of hulu content (albeit with the limited functionality of AOL Video) check out the AOL Hulu page here.
