With the US economy nearing crisis mode, few things relax us like sitting down to watch a good video or TV show. Hulu is seeing this trend and watching its number of views jump, thanks mainly to its diverse offering.
Hulu has finally put out its September numbers, via Nielsen Online’s VideoCensus, and they’re impressive for a service that still hasn’t had its first birthday. Hulu reached the number 6 spot on most watched video sites with more than 142 million streams. It beat out ESPN (128 million streams) and CNN (118 million). MTV Networks continued to trail with only 97 million streams. These numbers put Hulu only about 10 million page views behind MSN TV.
Comparing Hulu to others is interesting, but comparing Hulu to Hulu is more impressive this time around. In August, Hulu saw only around 107 million streams, which means September had nearly a 33% increase. Back in August, Hulu added HD streaming for the first time.
Tina Fey’s popular sitcom “30 Rock” put its season three premiere on Hulu a week before it was shown on TV on Thursday. Numbers aren’t out yet, but they’re going to be good, barring some dramatic event. Showtime did the same thing with two of its more popular shows, “Dexter” and “Californication,” weeks before their initial launch.
NBC’s release is probably related to Fey’s current popularity. Her recent impersonations of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live” drew an audience on NBC.com and Hulu that was twice as large as the TV show’s original broadcast.
Hulu’s expected revenues are tossed about in a fairly large range, with between $90 million and $100 million being around average. Exclusives like this will secure Hulu a spot closer to the $100 million mark. That number is significant because YouTube has around $100 million in domestic traffic – though now that it also is offering product sales near videos that could go up quickly – with another $100 million or so coming in internationally.
At least on the domestic side of things, Hulu is proving to be a big player and will definitely keep growing. New content, exclusives and older shows will keep its revenue rolling. Getting an international distribution agreement for its content could be like finding the Holy Grail of online TV video for Hulu. All in all, it looks like the future of TV could be on the Web. There apparently is already an audience waiting.