Hulu Claims Larger Viewership Than Time Warner Cable

Call it the 'Hulu Effect,' but there's been a sea change in the way people watch television shows. According to Fast Company, a recent survey by Comscore and Silicon Alley Insider found that, during the month of July, more folks watched Hulu than did Time Warner Cable. The numbers stacked up like this: 38 million viewers watched a video at least once on Hulu, a free online video service, while 34 million did the same on Time Warner Cable. In fact, Hulu ranked third in raw viewer statistics, only trailing DirecTV, with 47 million viewers, and Comcast, with 62 million.




But wait, numbers can be misleading. This doesn't mean that cable providers are about to go belly-up, or at least not yet. There's a key statistic from the survey here that must not be overlooked. On average, Hulu viewers watched 12 videos, totaling 1 hour and 13 minutes per viewer. This means people weren't watching Hulu nearly as often as the average TV viewer does the boob tube. Without repeat viewers, Hulu can kiss the big advertising bucks goodbye.

Furthermore, YouTube still has a much larger share of online viewership, at 42-percent, than Hulu, which lays claim to a mere 2.1-percent. So, let's not proclaim Hulu the king, or even a major contender, just yet. First, the video service needs to find a way to lure in more hardcore viewers. To our minds, that could be done by expanding its library (Can you say 'Mad Men,' 'CSI' and ESPN?), and by offering some exclusive content (like character backstories, exclusive commentary, or behind-the-scenes features). Until then, a computer screen displaying Hulu will remain a great way to kill time at the office, but not a viable challenger to an HDTV, a couch, and some good old fashioned cable. [From: Fast Company]

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