Week of June 30, 2008

Hulu To Clear Up To $90 Million This Year

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Tech billionaire Mark Cuban recently blogged that Hulu, the video content destination put together via a joint venture of several networks and content companies, is going to kick YouTube's ass. He meant this solely on the financial front, as Youtube continues to have significant difficulty in monetizing its absolutely huge base of video streams. Hulu, on the other hand, will make as much as $90 million this year as outlined by the Silicon Alley Insider. The difference is that large advertisers are open to advertising with content like Pushing Daisies and So You Think You Can Dance, but are uncomfortable advertising around user generated content that they have no control over.

The $90 million figure is quite respectable for a distribution start-up, and that early success may lead other content companies to climb on board. It is not outside the realm of possibility that Youtube will evolve into a pure consumer-driven video distribution platform and Hulu will be where everyone goes to find their favorite television clips. The real key to that happening, however, will be a courtroom-where Viacom and others are suing Youtube for copyright infringement. A big loss in the courtroom will mean much more aggressive pursuit by Google over Youtube copyrighted content-and more people going to Hulu.

Happy Birthday iPhone

Monday, June 30, 2008

Today marks the one year anniversary since the iPhone was launched. In many ways the iPhone has redefined the mobile phone, not just in functionality but in a user interface that his smooth and incredibly consumer-friendly. So happy birthday, iPhone. Your first year was an impressive and influential one!