About Hulu's Branding

Hulu's interface

Last week I was asked an interesting question from one of the Brand 3.0 group members in Linkedin.com.

" Hey, Will -- welcome. I look forward to checking out your blog. Here's one thing I've been following that may be along the lines of your topic.

The branding of Hulu.

Recently, Paige Albiniak, a contributing editor for Broadcasting & Cable, reported that more than half the people who have watched Tina Fey’s uncanny performance of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live have done so online. Some 23% of those views came via YouTube, including video of news and talk shows showing clips of the skit, which NBC can’t block. Only 17% and 4% of the views took place on NBC.com and Hulu.com .

The data comes from Solutions Research Group in AdAge.

Many informed experts think people aren’t turning to Hulu – the first place I went -- because they don’t know about it. SRG does report that SNL’s recent online success has improved awareness for Hulu, boosting it to 25% of American Internet users, up from 15% in July. Meanwhile, people going to YouTube are only seeing clips of the skit instead of the whole thing because that’s the only video portal they are aware of.

In past posts, Ms. Albiniak has said “it’s silly for NBC to block YouTube from airing these NBC-branded videos because all exposure is good exposure.” Now she wants to change and say something that might be considered Internet fascism by some: “perhaps it is better to keep these popular videos off YouTube, thus forcing people to discover Hulu. It’s taking a while, but it won’t be long before Hulu is the first place they check. What’s more, once they get there I am sure they’ll go back because there’s so much content on the site and it’s so well organized.”

How would you see it from your vantage point?"

My response was as follows:

"Hi Mark:

I believe it is total nonsense.
This "sit and wait" strategy seems to be the complete opposite of what's expected in TV III Branding.

Hulu surely needs some more branding, as Albiniak states in the headline of her article, but the user preference of YouTube over Hulu goes way beyond that.

From my point of view I could say that:

1. The whole brand synergy between content and catch up channel is very confusing for the "viweser". SNL airs on NBC, who shows clips at NBC.com , but who also has the show for catch up on Hulu.com . It is a three degree brand relationship that the average user is not acquainted with. Mostly because Hulu's brand is not widely known yet.

2. NBC has to do a hell lot of cross-promotion to teach the viewer the path to Hulu. It seems to me that NBC and Newscorp put all their bets on the programme's brand, completely erasing channel brands from Hulu. The viewer who lands on Hulu.com is not welcomed by familiar brands such as NBC or Fox. The user can only rely of familiar show brands, and sometimes, their favourite shows are not even being displayed on the homepage at the moment. So this network brand neutrality looks rather cold for a user who has no affinity with Hulu's brand yet. Next year, BBC, ITV and Channel 4 will release Kangaroo's online VOD service here in Britain. I'm curious to see how they'll deal with multiple network brands in the same service.

3. I've just ran a google search on "Sarah Palin Saturday Night Live" and the first result points to NBC.com . The sponsored link on the side points to " MSN.com/videos ". It speaks for itself. Hulu needs better SEO. And when you can't find it, you just go to YouTube, because it is the most trusted brand. And by the way, YouTube has just passed Yahoo as the second most popular Search Engine.

4. Don't even get me started on Hulu's interface. It is definitely not oriented for sharing. On YouTube, you don't need an extra click to copy the video's URL and send to friends. You can read users' comments right below the video. You can get related videos straight away: the Sarah Palin SNL sketch on the News, users' video replies, and so on (I've been even Rick Rolled trying to see the sketch on YouTube). YouTube is just a better media consumption experience, far ahead from Hulu.

5. Hulu has just official content. In YouTube, people serve as filters. The ratings of a particular video is in your face. And their opinions and related videos take you down the long tail, giving you an extended experience that Hulu can never give you.

So Mark, answering your question, I'd dare to say that keeping videos off youtube and just waiting for people to magically go to Hulu is not the best strategy.

Hulu is good for people like you, who know Hulu's brand and had the relationship with NBC and SNL in your head. That is why you went first to Hulu.

I hope I answered your question, and If not, hopefully I raised more doubts :)

Thanks for the opportunity to share some of my thoughts.

Best,

Will Prestes
www.brandthat.tv"

Besides, Hulu is only available in the US and is not available on the iphone.