Top executives at the UK's biggest commercial broadcasters will be keeping a watchful eye on the US today as Hulu, the online video joint venture between News Corporation and NBC, finally goes live.
Hulu, announced a year ago and originally earmarked for launch in summer 2007, aims to capture some of the traffic that has made video-sharing websites such YouTube a runaway success.
Peter Chernin, the chief executive of News Corp, has described Hulu as a "game changer" – a way for big media owners to keep control of their content online while driving new revenue growth.
Hulu, which is completely ad-funded, will launch today with more than 250 full-length episodes of TV series and 100 feature films as well as hundreds more shorter video clips.
Content deals with Warner Brothers TV and Lionsgate have been announced in recent days. But if the Hulu joint venture is aiming to become a major online home for US TV content, it is missing key partners including CBS and Disney/ABC.
In the UK, BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 have been working on their own version of an online video service, dubbed Project Kangaroo, since at least last June.
Kangaroo, which aims to "do for broadband what Freeview did for digital TV" in the UK, is unlikely to launch until late this year.
Valuable tips and lessons will be taken from how Hulu, which went into limited beta testing last October, fares in the real market.
The name Hulu was chosen, chief executive Jason Kilar has said, because it is "inherently fun, short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce and rhymes with itself".
Kangaroo's partners, which have tried little more than standard pre-roll and post-roll ads around video content, will also be watching with great interest the range of video ads that Hulu has been toying with.
Hulu has reportedly developed, and may be launching with, ad formats including a commercial break where advertisers give viewers a choice of spots depending on their interests.
There will also be an option for content owners to sponsor the entire viewing of a programme, if the user agrees to watch a two-and-a-half-minute movie trailer first.
Hulu has, according to reports, also run 30-second ads with programmes but with only 25% of the minutage that might be seen on regular US network TV.
The US venture has also experimented with small advertiser logos and icons in the corner of a screen while a programme is playing, which can be clicked on for more information.
Hulu, which has already had some success during its beta testing stage, is starting to blaze a trail that ITV, Channel 4, BBC Worldwide and other UK broadcasters, including Channel Five, will be watching with great interest.
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