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Cable Technology Feature Article

June 14, 2010

New Media Measure Study: Hulu's Success Lies in Diversity of Content

By Mini Swamy, TMCnet Contributor


New Media Measure, Interpret LLC's proprietary, quarterly survey of media behaviors, attitudes and product consumption, has released "Hulu's (News - Alert) Biggest Challenge: Netflix or TV Everywhere?" The study revealed that Hulu's success is in its ability to incorporate a subscription model in addition to the current ad-supported model.
 
While Hulu streamed more television content, Netflix streamed more movie content. An interesting feature that cropped up during the study showed that among Hulu-only streamers, 93 percent watched TV shows and 60 percent watched movies. This was in contrast to the Netflix-only streamers, where 68 percent watched TV shows and 87 percent watched movies.
 
"The lead Hulu has established in streaming television is a blessing and a curse," said Josh Bell, ED, Interpret, adding that Hulu's audience was more conditioned to expect quality TV programming for free with limited commercial interruption, but reliance on network television programming put them in a precarious position.
 
Bell further added that the study revealed that online TV streaming was primarily resorted to in order to catch up on missed current episodes and that Hulu viewers were also more likely to visit network sites.
 
Elaborating further, Bell added that this suggested that consumers would go in search of content, so changing the business model would probably prove difficult. That being the case, it was in Hulu's interest to diversify its content by including newer movies, sports programs and premium cable networks. Hulu's consumers very obviously didn't mind paying for all this.
 
New Media Measure surveys 9,000 consumers ages 12 to 65, representative of the U.S. population and weighted to U.S. Census. Data collected includes: demographics, psycho-graphics, brand consumption, traditional media consumption, online and social networking, mobile phone, video gaming, and digital entertainment. Data is available via Interface, a Web-accessible, interactive analysis tool, through Intrend, quarterly trend reports, and through Interpretations, monthly whitepapers from Interpret analysts.
 
Interpret LLC is an entertainment, media and technology market research firm that applies proprietary, cutting edge methodologies and extensive category knowledge to help companies plan, test, and measure their business strategies.

Mini Swamy is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Marisa Torrieri