Hulu and Online Video

Hulu.com has set the standard for online video. It's actually better than watching live television (mostly). It's also the single best online video site - not just in terms of content, but in actual use and function.

There are a few other video sites I use (or have used) on a regular basis: AdultSwim.com, ABC.com, CBS.com.

Let's assume, for now, that CBS's video service actually worked on a regular basis, and that Adult Swim's service didn't frequently refuse to load a subsequent clip, or that ABC didn't arbitrarily require an additional plugin or flat-out crash Safari. Let's just compare functionality - how you choose videos, how you view them.

Actually, I don't use CBS's video service at all - they have no content I care about, and my previous experience with them were poor - videos that wouldn't load, poor episode/video selection functionality, and a mostly broken playback.

Really, it's amazing that noone ever seemed to think that the basic functionality of Hulu is something that should be a standard part of video playback. You select a video clip, or add it to a queue. You start playing the video. You are (sometimes) given the option of watching either a full trailer, or you watch 30 second commercials interspersed within your selection. From there, you may launch the video in a separate window, dim the background, get more info, or share the clip. Scrubbing to a new point on the timeline works - you simply view a commercial. If your clip ends, it either stops, or goes to the next clip in your queue. Adult Swim, on the other hand, simply bumps you to the first clip in the entire section of videos, which is almost always something I don't want to see.

Within videos, the scrubber on Hulu is the most reliably functional of the three.

Video selection on Hulu is also significantly easier - search by date added, genre or alphabetical list.

Ads are the same on all three services - preroll ads, plus short ads interspersed within the clip itself. Hulu has the additional option of sometimes being able to view a full-length trailer. ABC really drops the ball here, though - their ads are not timed to start and end within the actual 30 second 'window' - they might have 10 or 15 seconds of silence after finished, or continue to play for another 5 or 10 seconds after you can click through. And yes, you must click through - otherwise, you are left staring at a static screen, waiting for your video to start.

In short, it seems like someone actually thought about how people might want to use a video service, and made one for Hulu.