By Matt Kapko Although traffic has dipped since the Sarah Palin-inspired skits by Tina Fey began to lose their sense of immediate cool, The Associated Press still picked Hulu.com as the No. 1 website of the year. Few online pundits gave the site any chance since it came from two massive entertainment companies, but even its harshest critics have eaten their words in the nine months since the site launched.
The joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal hosts more than 1,000 shows from at least 130 content providers, most of which are from outside companies like Sony Pictures Television, MGM Studios, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures and PBS. Throughout the month of October, the site tracked approximately 24 million unique visitors, according to comScore data. Hulu’s visitors watch an average of 10 videos per month, making it the sixth most popular site for videos viewed online.
Although more popular sites like Google’s YouTube draw a much larger share of the online video market, advertisers find Hulu more appealing as a platform, and the site is on track to equal YouTube’s revenue by the end of next year, the AP explained in making its decision. Perhaps even more notable is that some TV networks have reversed strategy following Hulu’s success. Sony, MGM and Warner Bros. didn’t come on board until after the site launched and CBS had re-launched its site in a design that mirrors Hulu’s clean, user-friendly interface.
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