Ratings functions (by stars), subscriptions, friends, suggested videos (generated from previously viewed content) are basically the same on both websites. The websites also let you search by most popular episodes or shows, and by genre. Unless you know the specific title of a video or the name of a person's channel, it is hard to find content. Hulu has less of a problem with this because their videos have more of a commercial branding. Individuals on YouTube have brands for themselves (their production style, niche content, genre). However, users not involved on the website may not be exposed to a "YouTuber's" brands. I think the most important thing to note is the models of these websites are on opposite sides of the spectrum. YouTube is largely for user generated content, while Hulu is corporate-produced. Both websites use advertising, but have differing methods for integrating ads (Hulu's spot ads breaking up programs and sponsored promotional videos vs. YouTube's sidebar ads, pop up ads during videos, and sponsored content).
Community is an interesting thing to study from these two websites. Hulu allows you to share videos with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and MySpace. YouTube allows you to share with the same sites with minimal variations (they have Bebo, Google Buzz, StumbleUpon, etc.)
At first I thought you wouldn't be able to comment on Hulu videos, but then I saw a "discussions" tab below the video. YouTube's comments are more prominent and an essential part of the site. On YouTube you can leave a note to tell content creators what you liked about their video and, oftentimes, the people actually read their comments. Hulu's comments function more like a discussion board. I question how much the show's producers read comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment