Hulu was started in 2007 and at launch it had no content and no viewership. In October of 2007 it then engaged in a private beta and finally in 2008 it launched into a public beta. Hulu in a very short period of time has made a significant impact on video distribution. According to comScore, 28 million people watched content on Hulu, during the month of July.

To put this into some perspective – according to comScore, for the month of July,  ComCast viewership was 62 million and Time Warner came in at 34 million. Google by far is king of this New Media space with a July viewership of 8.9 billion.

So should Old Media be scared? Not yet! The problem is that content providers still make considerable revenue from traditional media distribution. Platforms like Hulu and Google still make little revenue from video distribution. I don’t see this imbalance lasting long. There just needs to be a revenue model that makes sense for content providers to make the leap over to the dark side.

Now Hulu is absolutely free. There are essentially two ways to enjoy Hulu – from your web browser or Hulu Desktop. I am a fan of just watching Hulu on my browser but the Hulu Desktop has a very slick interface; it’s worth the download. Hulu has content from NBC, Fox, ABC, AOL, MSN, MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo!, and Comcast’s fancast.com. There is plenty of content some of which is available in HD. Unfortunately, there are commercials but you are given the length of time the commercial will run. So you can always step away and be back in 30 seconds and no, you can’t fast forward through the commercials. Hulu does give you some very nice options. You can play, pause, fast forward and rewind. You can also embed and share videos – great if you have a personal blog. There is just a rich set of features the Hulu offers – that enhance your viewing experience.

I am a big fan of the ABC show – Defying gravity. I enjoy the fact that, at my leisure, I can watch Defying Gravity whenever and wherever I want. I am always carrying my Mac Book so as long as I have an Internet connection – I can watch my favorite shows. One odd thing that I have found is that although I am not a fan of the ABC show – Lost, I find myself watching it on Hulu. Nope, I am not sure why but I guess it really does not matter.

So instead of me writing about it go check it out for yourself and enjoy.

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