“Hulu is proud to support the efforts of invisible children”
The main difference between the Hulu video I watched and the YouTube video was Hulu’s ability to brand and structure advertising. The first short ad that was shown before my SNL clip was a branded 5 minute ad for NBC: More Colorful. Following the branded ad, I was “forced” to watch an advertisement for the “Invisible Children” campaign, striving to rebuild peace and structure in Uganda. This is a short price to pay for the clean, crisp content that Hulu provides. Hulu allowed for minimal interaction on the site itself. The “rate this video” section was small and easy to pass by. Although the site made it easy for users to embed the clip or share the clip to their personal social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and more.
In order to maintain consistency, I watched an SNL clip on Youtube as well. And, to my surprise, the clip I chose had no advertisement and was pretty good quality. However, the clip, from SNL’s Weekend Update, did not show the full sketch. Because it was posted by a YouTube user, the clip was cut only to the part that the user thought was funny. Unlike Hulu, YouTube, was more interactive allowing other users to post comments or like/dislike the clip.
It may be because I hope to work for a network someday, but I would rather use Hulu because of the strengthened network control. Not only do they have the ability to brand their content, but they also, I believe, are able to chose the advertisements used for their programming. What network wouldn’t want a public awareness campaign, promoting support towards a struggling nation attached to their content? But then again…is that really what I want to see before a hilarious SNL clip?
There are pros and cons to Hulu’s content and branding control, but overall, I don’t mind paying the short price of advertisements in order to watch an entire show with perfect quality.
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