The Web as a mainstream tool accessible to everyone has changed things for copyright owners. Whether they choose to embrace the Internet or not could determine their survival through the current revolution. But it could well be too late, and social networking could be to blame.

The Writing’s On The Wall

Only the most ignorant among us can’t see that something big needs to happen in terms of copyright and ownership rights. Whether it be music, movies, or video games, the Internet has opened up a new market which needs to have its potential tapped rather than impeded at every turn.

The record companies and movie studios have had since the emergence and eventual shutdown of Napster to realize the writing is on the wall. But rather than accept the inevitability of the need for change, and embracing the Web as a means of distribution, they’re hanging on to their dying business model by their fingertips.

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While Web video is growing on a daily basis, much of this content is devoid of any monetization, meaning content producers and video sites alike aren’t making any revenue for their efforts. Is this a situation likely to change any time soon?

Over the last few months here on Web TV Wire, we’ve looked at the seemingly never-ending debate as to whether online video can be a profitable business by way of monetization in some depth.

Google and YouTube

Most of this has been regarding YouTube, and Google’s attempts at making some of the $1.65 billion it invested in the video sharing site back by use of advertising.

Google has considered the use of pre-roll and post-roll advertising on videos, but that’s only possible on videos that have been checked for copyright violations – about 4% of the total video content uploaded to YouTube.

We then asked if pre-vetting all videos would help Google’s monetization cause, but argued that bringing this measure in would do more harm than good in terms of user satisfaction and viewer numbers.

We all know that Web video is increasing at a mammoth rate month on month. But new research suggests that not only is the Internet being used as an extension to the TV, it could be replacing it at quite a rate.

Computers and the Web are becoming an increasingly important part of how television shows are being distributed. Whether it be via legal methods such as Hulu and Joost, or illegal peer-to-peer sharing of torrents, the trend is on the rise.

Online Video Up

We’ve already seen online video viewing as a whole grow massively over the first half of 2008, with comScore data for May showing 12 billion videos were watched in the US alone.

This figure obviously includes all forms of videos, with YouTube being the highest percentage of views. But even in the niche of episodic content, especially prime time shows such as Lost and Heroes, the figures are stacking up.

Hulu is one of the leading lights in the fight to get traditional television, and Web television to converge. But as it comes up to it first anniversary, how is it actually doing?

Solutions Research Group recently conducted a study in to the state of Hulu, as reported by TVWeek. It shows the demographic who are watching, and the customer satisfaction ratings.

Struggling To Gain Traction

Most importantly, it seems that despite being heavily promoted, the majority of Americans still don’t know about the Fox/NBC-owned Hulu, with just 15% of the online US population having ever heard of the site.

Online video is already massively popular in its many forms. However, if the latest predictions from Cisco Systems is to be believed, it is likely to be the dominant force on the Web by 2012.

The company has published its first Visual Networking Index, (PDF) and the results show that while video currently already accounts for a quarter of all Internet traffic, that figure is set to rise year-on-year until it surpasses 50% by 2012.

Web video has been growing for a fair number of years now, with broadband sparking an explosion in on-demand video services and sites.

With YouTube leading the way, video viewing over the Internet is growing around the world, and according to a new research paper, that growth is going to carry on and even speed up over the next five years.

Hulu officially launched on Wednesday after an extended and very successful period in beta. 

Hulu is a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corporation which offers multiple online videos. 

As listed on their blog, while announcing the launch:

“Today we are excited to leave our private beta and open Hulu.com to everyone in the U.S.”

So what is the Hulu experience? That depends on your expectations and starting point. I’m going to start with the technical experience since that is how I approached de-constructing the site.