Free online TV shows could come to an end soon, if Hulu’s bosses do not figure out a way to keep the service alive. So far Hulu relies on online advertising to bring in the revenue. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be enough to guarantee its existence anymore as the ad revenue is simply too small.
The obvious alternative is the much talked about paid service for some or all of Hulu. The problem with that is acceptance by people. While watching shows on Hulu is great, it is not something exclusive. The shows on the site are shows that people already have access to. So if they don’t want to pay for Hulu, they will just catch the show on time, record it or use Video On Demand (VOD) if they want to watch it later. In fact VOD is seen as the biggest threat to Hulu if it does decide to charge for its services.
To compound matters further, two of the most popular shows have been yanked off Hulu. Comedy Central (CC) had problems with how revenue from ads was being shared and is therefore pulling “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” off Hulu by next week. Another six CC shows are also rumored to follow them. This will be a big hit for the service as CC fans will leave en masse for sites run by CC which feature these programs.
The biggest questions now for Hulu are, “how much do we charge?” and “What do we charge for?” The answers are coming soon.