NBC recently began pulling their own content from Google’s YouTube service in a very transparent move to make the exclusive content only available on their own (yet-to-be-launched) video sharing service, Hulu (a joint venture with Fox.)
Initial news about the Hulu service suggested that both NBC and Fox would be placing full episodes of hit shows like The Simpsons, The Office and Arrested Development on Hulu but short, frequently shared clips of the hit shows (SNL’s Junk in a Box, anyone?) may no longer be available.
Wired.com’s review of the service the other day relayed those fears for me and, although we weren’t able to take the service for a test drive ourselves (it’s still in private beta,) we used a PHP script (thrown together by designISsucky) to view some of the 2000+ items of content to see for ourselves.
Sure enough, we saw everything from short clips to full episodes of shows and even a few crappy movies (yes, we’re referring to Weekend at Bernie’s and Bulworth.)
Of course, the content will be absolutely free but you’ll be seeing banner ads on the site in addition to ads interspersed in the content itself (30 seconds or less, typically) at the beginning and end of each full-length show and another spot somewhere in the middle – much like you’re used to now.
Also, there are no options for user-submitted content so everything you’ll be seeing here is official premium content from both Fox and NBC. If CBS, ABC and others join the team, Hulu could become a one-stop shop for all of your regularly-watched shows.
Technically speaking, the player Hulu uses for the content is one of the best I’ve seen. The player is Flash-based and, much like YouTube’s most recent player, offers options for embedding and sharing the content and also links to related videos.
One disadvantage we’ve noticed, carried straight over from the full episodes currently being offered at NBC.com, is the lack of pre-loading on the content stream. For instance, if you view a clip on YouTube.com, the entire clip downloads in the background as it continues to play; meaning that you can pause the content , let it download, and then go offline and be able to continue to watch the clip. The Hulu player doesn’t operate quite the same way and, if your wireless signal were to drop, you would not be able to continue the clip even if you were nearly finished watching it.
Overall, we’re very impressed with hulu and, as soon as we get our invite set up, we’ll bring you any more details we can.
In the meantime, we’ve compiled some examples of fine Hulu content so, without further ado:
30 Rock: Jenna on Hardball:
30 Rock: Distracting Intern:
Saturday Night Live: Junk in a Box, Uncensored:
Cheers:
and, of course:
The first season of Arrested Development (Fox)
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