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Saturday, November 10, 2007

Hulu looks great


I put my email address on the hulu website and was fortunate to get a password sent to enjoy the beta version. And while I can't understand why the investment in hulu to promote NBC shows, when nbc.com should be that resource, I do have to say I like the easy navigation that hulu offers. The nbc.com website comes across too cluttered and hard to navigate. Think you clicked a link to full episodes, but find your self on another general page. To many clicks to hard to get what you want quickly.

Hulu, on the other hand, has created a nice clean player, easy navigation, and at the moment, no full frontal assault of advertising. And while the NBC and Fox partnership may have created a nice new business, I continue to wonder why you couldn't take all this same learning and simply apply it correctly to your own network website. Hulu doesn't easily roll off your tongue and too many times I want to type H U L A. Thank goodness for bookmarks.

I like the concept of Hulu, I just don't like the clutter of a hundred different websites offering the same things, or each site offering something slightly different: one for downloads, one for streaming, another for clicks, a fourth for fan user generated versions. Rather, organize one website cleanly with easy search and quick access. Do we need hulu, no; but we do need the kind of thinking that makes for better synergistic use of the web and TV.