Online Video Viewing Figures

Online video viewing figures are generally on the up. To a vast degree. As more and more people start turning to the Web for new ways of watching movies and television content, the big players are generally picking up new viewers left, right, and center.

But it isn’t exactly plain sailing, especially for everyone other than YouTube who is currently fighting to maintain or steal second place behind the Google-owned site.

January 2010 ComScore

ComScore today revealed the online video rankings for January 2010. After declaring after the December figures were released that online video is “showing no signs of slowing down in growth,” the inevitable happened: a slowing down in growth.

Overall viewing figures dropped by around 2.5 percent, from 33.2 billion views in December 2009 to 32.4 billion views January 2010. Unique viewers also dropped, from 177.9 million to 173.4 million.

YouTube, listed as Google Sites, is still number one, and by a huge margin. The site accounted for 39.5 percent of the total views in January 2010, although that was down on its total for December 2009.

Hulu & Vevo Suffer

Hulu’s sweet victory last month was only short-lived. While it hit one billion video views in December for the first time in its history, that figure dropped back massively to 903 million in January. The obvious explanation is a lack of must-see episodes as shows such as Glee take mid-season hiatuses. And the loss of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report won’t help Hulu recover in the future.

Vevo actually gained video views in January, rising from 28.1 million in December to 32.4 million. However, as the site didn’t launch until December 9, this actually constitutes a drop in real terms. And that’s despite comScore including YouTube music videos in Vevo’s numbers.

Conclusions

Is this merely a short-term glitch or a sign that the growth of online video has suddenly and inexplicably hit its peak? The fact is that the same sites are dominating and until a new venture rises up the charts a certain amount of leveling off should be expected.

Hulu Loses Big Names

Two of the most popular shows on Hulu are The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Unfortunately, neither will be available to watch on Hulu after March 9 as Viacom has decided in its infinite wisdom to pull all Comedy Central content from the site.

This is a big deal when you consider The Daily Show is only behind Lost and Family Guy in terms of the number of viewers it gains on Hulu. So if even those kinds of viewing figures aren’t making it worth Viacom’s while what about the less popular shows?

Hulu’s Big Problem

This sums Hulu’s problem up in a nutshell. While it’s the most popular TV catchup service on the Web in the U.S., it is wholly reliant on the networks and content creators for its product. If that disappears then Hulu is left with nothing to sell. Or at least no content to sell advertising against.

The same is true for any content aggregator, of course, but Hulu is slap-bang in the middle of an emerging market which could still evolve in a number of ways. And it could turn out that Hulu is crowded out of the market by initiatives such as TV Everywhere.

Viacom Threatens To Sue

For viewers this news won’t mean too much. Both shows will still be viewable online (in the U.S. only, naturally) on their own Web sites. However, the art of embedding is going to be affected.

While Hulu has the whole show and allows users to crop whichever section they want to, Comedy Central only makes certain clips available. Which is bound to lead to unauthorized clips being uploaded on sites such as YouTube.

The Hollywood Reporter quotes PR rep Tony Fox in saying, “My feeling is if (websites) are making money on our copyrighted content, then that is a problem.” he also answered, “Yes, we intend to do so,” when asked if Viacom will now target sites and bloggers who post clips from the shows in question.

Ars Technica got spun a different story, but it’s clear the company will be closely monitoring online video sites after The Daily Show and The Colbert report are removed from Hulu.

Conclusions

Viacom and Hulu were reportedly discussing a deal right up until the last minute, but one which pleased both sides couldn’t be found. My guess would be Viacom was after a bigger slice of the revenue pie, and Hulu cannot really afford to give up any more at this time.

Maybe when Hulu starts charging Viacom will have a change of heart. In fact, I’d suggest it’s inevitable.

Apple iPad

The iPad was rumored for a long time before it finally arrived, being unveiled by Steve Jobs at CES 2010. Designed to fill the void between smartphones and notebooks, the iPad is a touchscreen device costing from $499 upwards.

Apple hopes the iPad will change the way we consume media such as television, music, and games. But for that to happen, the company needs the backing of content creators and distributors.

Apple Hates Flash(ers)

As soon as the iPad was unveiled, many people saw Hulu as the perfect service for the device. Getting Hulu on board would be a big coup for Apple, and no doubt help the iPad in its quest for mainstream acceptance.

The big problem is Apple’s insistence on not supporting Adobe Flash, which has been its stance for a long time. Apple thinks HTML5 will become the new standard very quickly, and eschew the need for Flash altogether.

The one problem with that stance (aside from annoying potential customers) is that many of the services Apple wants to attract to the iPad use Flash. Including Hulu.

Hulu On The iPad

Hulu already encodes its files in H.264, so it would be possible for a Hulu app on the iPad. But that’s not the only issue at stake here.

MediaMemo reports that Hulu is indeed considering an iPad option. But it would first have to decide whether the iPad constitutes a mobile device, and if so, work out a new deal with the networks with that in mind.

Either way, Hulu on the iPad is likely to be a premium service, or part of a larger premium service, that Hulu has already indicated will be coming in 2010. It just hasn’t decided what form it’ll take, or how much it’ll cost.

CBS On 99 Cent Shows

Another way Apple hopes to kickstart the iPad’s life is by lowering the price of TV shows on iTunes to 99-cents an episode. We’ve already heard that some U.S. networks warmed to the idea after the iPad’s launch. And now we have a more concrete view from one of them.

MediaMemo (again) reports CBS CEO Les Moonves as saying, “There are certain shows that will be sold on Apple for 99 cents.” Though this shouldn’t be taken as gospel, it implies the network is heading in that direction. Which can only be good for Apple.

Conclusions

Neither of these efforts – Hulu on iPad, 99-cent shows on iTunes – are likely to be finalized in time for the March launch of the iPad. So, permanent deals could end up depending on how well the iPad initially sells. Which is still up for debate.

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SeeSaw

SeeSaw is the one-stop shop for online television that Arqiva built from the ashes of Project Kangaroo. SeeSaw entered an invite-only beta last month, but has now launched fully, with any British resident now able to use the service as they wish.

SeeSaw is a free, advertising-based site which draws video offerings from a number of different sources. It then serves them up in a very user-friendly environment with good quality video playback and a minimum of adverts.

From Beta To Public

Having used SeeSaw during the beta period, I reviewed how the site was progressing a few weeks ago. I really like the design and layout, but the content and how the site is going to offer anything above and beyond the sources its using remain sticking points to a wholehearted recommendation.

The good thing is that the site is now open for all to use and make their own minds up. The beta was very short and nothing has changed as far as I can see. Unfortunately that also means there are no new sources, with the BBC, 4oD, and Five still the only content providers listed.

Arqiva launched the site fully on Wednesday, with SeeSaw controller John Keeling telling the Daily Mail:

“It’s like having an enormous buffet… you can either just snack on it and catch up on what you’ve missed or gorge yourself with an entire season – it’s absolutely at your fingertips and your control.”

This is the tip of the iceberg, it feels to me like it did 20 years ago when I was at Sky and multi-channel TV was just beginning and you saw satellite dishes sprouting on people’s homes like mushrooms.”

Future Options

While SeeSaw is currently free to watch, with revenue being gained from 2 minutes of adverts for each video, this will change later in the year. Arqiva hopes to double its content over the next few months, including premium U.S. content.

At this point, planned for around June, Arqiva will begin to explore pay options. Users will then be able to rent shows and possibly TV movies as well. These will be streams rather than downloads, with a 48-hour window to watch the bought content without ads.

SeeSaw is also thought to be investigating the possibilities of a subscription package for the premium service. Which isn’t surprising as it’s a route also being explored by Hulu, YouTube, and Apple for iTunes.

Conclusions

The SeeSaw story is only just beginning, and it’s started well. Arqiva’s willingness to forge deals with content providers, that Hulu hasn’t been able to do in its race to go international, means more content is sure to arrive. And that will be key in persuading people that SeeSaw is an essential service.

Hulu U.S.

In the U.S., Hulu is doing phenomenally well. It hit the one billion video views in a month milestone in December 2009, bringing a great year to an even better close. And 2010 is likely to see traffic increase even more.

This year will also see Hulu likely experiment with a paid subscription model alongside its free model. However, Hulu is currently limited to the States, with those of use who reside outside America blocked from watching content.

What Hulu needs to do is move abroad and go international.

Hulu U.K.

Hulu has actually been trying to do exactly that for a while now. With the U.K. chosen as the testbed for a larger international roll-out.

In March 2009 it hired someone to oversee its international operations. And in May Hulu began negotiations with several British broadcasters and content providers. A September 2009 launch was envisioned, though that date came and went without anything happening.

An ITV deal was considered close in August yet Hulu was already extending its launch plan into 2010.

Talks Stall

According to The Telegraph, Hulu has now set its sights on June 2010 to launch in the U.K. But even that seems optimistic considering the state of negotiations with the main channels.

ITV is undergoing a “10 week strategic assessment” and will not be moving talks forward in that time. While Channel 4 and Five are balking at Hulu’s demand that it controls the sale of advertising around the broadcasters’ content.

Both want to be able to sell the advertising around their own content so that they control what advertising appears attached to their programs and retain the majority of the revenues generated. Hulu doesn’t think this will make a U.K. site a viable business for itself.

Competing With YouTube, SeeSaw

The problem Hulu has is one of timing. Channel 4 and Five have signed deals with YouTube and SeeSaw in the meantime, both of which allow them control of their own advertising inventory. Neither will want to give that control up to the new kid on the block.

The bigger problem is, of course, that Hulu has lost the chance to get Channel 4 and Five on an exclusive basis. And if the same content is going to be on the broadcasters own sites, YouTube, SeeSaw, and Hulu, it makes me wonder whether Hulu should even bother trying to get a foothold in the U.K.

Apple iPad

Apple’s head honcho Steve Jobs unveiled the long-anticipated iPad at the end of January. It’s a touchscreen tablet pitched somewhere between smartphones and notebook PCs. And it could change the way we consume digital media. Possibly.

Apple wants the iPad to become the device for media on the go. The screen makes it ideal for watching video, but there’s also gaming, e-books, and music which could be given a new lease of life from the iPad.

And it seems the content creators which Apple needs to partner with are coming round to the idea.

Hulu Without Flash?

One of the big problems with the iPad is the lack of Flash support. Apple and Adobe just don’t see eye-to-eye, and that could affect the iPad’s ability to stream video or display games. At least in the short term until HTML5 becomes dominant.

No Flash means no Hulu. Which is a shame because the iPad would be ideal for watching Hulu on the go.

But Hulu realizes this, and TechCrunch claims an industry insider as being confident Hulu is working on an iPad-friendly version of the site. With its videos already encoded in the H.264 standard, this wouldn’t actually be as difficult as first imagined.

The obvious advantage for Hulu would be the chance to charge for access through the iPad-friendly site. The company could either charge for the app or make it a subscription service, possibly only available to premium users when it likely switches to a pay model later this year.

99 Cent Shows

Even before the iPad was unveiled, we reported how Apple was seeking a deal with the big American TV networks to slash prices of episodes from the current $1.99 to just 99 cents. This would follow a similar deal with the music industry in 2003 and signal a coming of age for online video.

The FT is reporting that some of those TV networks are coming round to the idea, with the iPad playing a big part in their change of heart. If such a deal goes through then iTunes could corner the market in the same way it has done already with music downloads.

Conclusions

This is just the start of the deals we’re likely to see emerging in the run up to the launch of the iPad in two months time. If the Apple tablet is going to be as big as some analysts think then purveyors of video would be mad to miss out.

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Online Video Viewer Stats

Online video is showing no signs of slowing down in growth. As the latest comScore statistics for December 2009 show.

178 million Internet users in the U.S. watched online video during the last month of the decade. Which equates to almost 87 percent market penetration.

Between them they watched over 33 billion videos in December, or the equivalent of 187 videos each. The average length of video now stands at 4.1 minutes, up from 3.5 minutes around the same time last year.

YouTube Leading

As always, YouTube is leading the pack by quite a margin. 13 billion (40 percent) of the 33 billion video total were watched on the Google-owned site. The 136 million people who used YouTube averaged 97 videos per user.

With viewer numbers and loyalty like that it’s really no wonder Google is trying to shape YouTube into a site which can turn a profit, be it from movie rentals, a TV subscription service, or better advertising options.

Hulu Growing

Hulu ranks second again, as it has done for a while now. However, it’s a long way behind YouTube, with a 3 percent market share. Not that Hulu is complaining though, as it has broken the one billion videos barrier for the first time in its history.

Hulu is almost certainly to launch paid options this year, but it’s viewer numbers such as this which will ensure a free option always remains. Hulu would be mad to put all its content behind a paywall and lose that momentum at a stroke.

Conclusions

I cannot see anyone ever catching YouTube. The site continues to go from strength to strength, picking up new viewers, serving more videos than ever, and innovating to stay ahead of the chasing pack.

Online video as a whole is continuing its long march upwards. And that’s unlikely to stall anytime soon. The emerging tablet computer sector, as led by the Apple iPad, is promising to change the way we access media content, and that can only be good for Web video.

Boxee Vs. Hulu History

It was almost a year ago when Hulu decided to pull its content from Boxee. TV.com also lost out. The decision was made after the networks and cable companies declared they didn’t like the way their premium content was being viewed on television via Boxee via Hulu.

In essence, they were only happy with Hulu while it remained a computer-only affair. Boxee enabled Hulu to be experienced on TVs and that just wouldn’t do as it may influence people’s decision to cancel their cable subscriptions in favor of online video.

Boxee responded by issuing a workaround to the Hulu block. Which Hulu then plugged, only for Boxee to unplug it. The cat and mouse game has continued since then, with some Boxee users able to watch Hulu programming and others not.

NBC Explains To Congress

Congress is holding a hearing concerning Comcast’s proposed acquisition of NBC Universal. And it was during this that Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC, was asked about Hulu blocking Boxee users from accessing its programming.

Zucker was clearly surprised by the line of questioning and faltered the answer:

“This was a decision made by the Hulu management to, uh, what Boxee was doing was illegally taking the content that was on Hulu without any business deal. And, you know, all, all the, we have several distributors, actually many distributors of the Hulu content that we have legal distribution deals with so we don’t preclude distribution deals. What we preclude are those who illegally take that content.”

He was then asked whether NBC would negotiate with Boxee, to which he replied, “We have always said that we’re open to negotiations.”

Why Hulu Is Wrong

Zucker, and consequently Hulu, is fundamentally wrong on this one. As Boxee explains in a measured blog response, Boxee accesses content using a Web browser. There is no taking of video, no adding of adverts. In fact, it works exactly the same way as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and the Hulu Desktop.

And yet Boxee has been singled out for exclusion from access while Microsoft, Mozilla, Google and the rest happily act as a go-between without any of these so-called “legal distribution deals” in place that Zucker referred to.

Conclusions

There is absolutely no logic to Hulu’s continued banning of Boxee. And Zucker’s response to the question about it and Boxee’s explanation of why he is wrong frame the issue in as succinct a way as possible.

Let’s hope Hulu and Boxee either do now come to some arrangement or that Congress pushes further for an explanation of the issues involved. Because it makes no sense whatsoever, especially as Boxee would increase Hulu’s potential audience.

Hulu – From Zero To Hero

After a short beta, Hulu launched fully in early 2008 with few people predicting it would become the success it has done. But the last two years has seen the service grow in popularity by a huge amount, with only a slight dip in the middle of last year.

But that trend now looks to have been reversed, with Hulu once again growing. With Disney now on board, and content partners and sponsors increasing in number, things are definitely looking good for Hulu.

One Billion Videos

The last time we looked at Hulu usage stats the monthly record was 924 million streams. But that has now been superseded, with ComScore reporting Hulu served more than one billion videos in December. In an interview with USA Today, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar described it as “a great milestone.”

At the end of 2008 Hulu was serving 240 million videos a month. In the space of a year that figure has been quadrupled, which is growth I think most sites (with the exception of Google and YouTube) would be happy with.

Paid Vs. Free Options

Hulu may well already be profitable but the company is refusing to disclose this information. However, profitable or not, Hulu is looking at new ways of making money. Last year the first talk of charging for access, with Rupert Murdoch being the driving force behind the effort.

Kilar has now promised there will always be a free version of Hulu but that still leaves a lot of scope for charging for access.

Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey believes Hulu is eyeing up two different pricing tiers. $4.99 a month would buy viewers an ad-free Hulu, with $14.99 a month ending the four-episode limit and open up complete seasons and a huge back catalog of content.

Conclusions

This seems a sensible approach: keeping Hulu free and ad-supported for those who want it, while also giving people more options. The premium package will be most attractive to people who currently buy box sets of TV shows on DVD or Blu-ray.

2009 was a good year for Hulu and I suspect 2010 will be even better.

iPad Arrives

Apple has now shown its hand, unveiling the iPad, its new tablet PC, a few days ago. I’ve already looked at what the iPad means for online video, although the jury is still out on whether the device will actually mean anything, certainly in the short-term.

Apple failed to truly capitalize on its media event on Wednesday, with very few content partners, and only YouTube and MLB.tv for online video streaming. But that doesn’t mean more won’t follow, especially by way of apps created to take advantage of the iPad’s bigger screen.

Hulu Talks Mobile Web

GigaOM spoke to Hulu CEO Jason Kilar at the DLD Conference in Munich. This was before the iPad announcement but at a time when everyone knew it was coming and most knew roughly what to expect.

When asked about the mobile Web and Hulu’s position on it, Kilar said:

“The computer in your pocket is very important. Mobile is a monster – we are very bullish. We will embrace any device. We are very big believers in mobile and we don’t think about (just) one device only.”

At the moment Hulu isn’t on any device other than the PC, but it seems clear from Kilar’s response that this won’t always be the case. While the iPad obviously wasn’t mentioned by name, it must figure in Hulu’s plans along with the iPhone and Android platforms, and probably more besides.

Hulu App?

That opens up the possibility of a Hulu App sometime in the future. Depending on how well the iPad sells, I’d guess it’ll be optimized for the larger screen rather than for the iPhone.

However, there remains one big problem, which is Apple’s resistance to supporting Flash in any way, shape or form. As Hulu uses Flash, it would have to re-encode all of its video streams to be usable on the iPad and iPhone. Which is a big ask at this point in time.

Conclusions

There’s no doubt in my mind that Hulu will make the move to mobile devices in the near future. But the Apple platforms may not be the first priority unless Adobe and Apple can make peace.

I also wouldn’t be surprised it a Hulu app formed part of the pay options the company is looking at currently. In the same way Spotify Mobile is only available to premium users, Hulu Mobile may be one of the draws to paying for Hulu content.