Does figuring out whether to watch Hulu or YouTube represent an ethical dilemma? Both have rather strong points.
- Hulu has a very small database of content that is heavily supported through advertising. A two hour movie may have up to 8 ads.
- YouTube does not force advertising into the frames; ads are to the side or overlay the video, and can be easily avoided.
- Hulu is region specific and can only be watched in the United States, which makes it a non starter overseas. It also represents the smallest number of contributors; only a small sampling of studios and television networks have posted content there.
- YouTube is worldwide and has as contributors anyone who is free to watch their content. You get to watch content from overseas as well as from the United States, which makes it easy to learn about other markets and international television viewing habits.
- Hulu represents the best efforts of advertisers and programmers coming together to offer a slick platform.
- YouTube is ghetto and goes for accessibility. You can get by with a slower computer as long as you have a relatively decent Flash player.
- Hulu has older content, but is very select in which content is available. It's most lucrative content is often in the form of small clips, as opposed to being shown in it's entirety. It's selection of movies is questionable; most of these movies are already dead on arrival in On Demand, Pay Per View, Baroadcast television or video rental so placing them on Hulu is a no brainer, as well as a last option for the studios. The television shows are not easily found in syndication either.
- YouTube has content that no one really wants to watch, in fact the overwhelming majority of what YouTube offers is stuff that only a small sampling of individuals are watching. It would be interesting to note just how many videos on YouTube have less than 500 views. The number would most likely be larger than Hulu's entire catalog.
- Hulu does have top shelf quality content you won't find elsewhere.
- YouTube does have some top shelf content from the original studios, contrary to popular belief. In fact there isn't enough said about the fact that the studios regularly dump content on YouTube in the same way that they do Hulu. It's just different studios that are posting on Hulu, for obvious reasons. PBS and CBS are huge on YouTube, as are HBO and Lifetime. In fact PBS is posting entire shows on YouTube.
- If you want to hear the director of a studio talk to the newsroom during the nightly broadcast of X television studio in Y year in Z market, you can find that on YouTube. If you want to see local television commercials, or any television commercial, from any year dating back to the early sixties, chances are someone left the VCR running, or was working at a television studio at the time, and has uploaded it to YouTube. The major studios have no commercial or artistic interest to provide that to Hulu, YouTube, or any other video streaming site. But fans continue to download and upload this material on YouTube, and since copyright owners aren't aggressively pursuing YouTube to remove the content, it continues to be that vault of forgotten television. Take a trip down memory lane with YouTube and loose yourself in independent television if you want to. Watch stuff that has never been broadcast before. Given the dissheveled way in which video is arranged on there, you will always end up back in the present day anyway.
Last but not least, there is quality user generated content on YouTube. Not all of it is rediculous, immature or sophomoric, and there is a market there. Unfortunately, actually producing your own quality content is more complicated than it looks, and most users will not take the time or money to perfect their craft. Yet those that do will always have a voice on YouTube. Hulu is a small controlled experiment though they do offer a luxury product of sorts though it is not as addictive as the slum model offered by YouTube. Which one to watch, so many decisions ...