Social Networking Watch: News on the Social Networking and Social Media Industry

Hulu Is No Longer for Sale

MASHABLE - Oct 14 - Hulu started considering a sale in June after Yahoo expressed interest in acquiring the world’s second largest video website. Yahoo, Google, Amazon, Dish Network and others were reportedly in the running. However, none of the bidders offered an amount that was satisfactory to its owners. Google apparently offered ~$4 billon, but wanted longer-term guarantees to its video content.

by Ben Parr
See full article at Mashable

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Yahoo Out as Hulu Mulls Other Bids

CNET NEWS - Oct 10 - Currently, Hulu's board of directors is mulling bids from Dish Network, Amazon, and Google. However, Yahoo, which first met with Hulu to discuss a possible acquisition, has backed out of trying to acquire the firm as it prepares to potentially sell off its own company. Dish Network is now the new front-runner to acquire the streaming-video service. The company initially offered $1.9 billion for Hulu but has asked Hulu to change its bid. Google, on the other hand, is willing to pay more than $2 billion, but has required Hulu to agree to certain conditions before it can complete the deal.

by Don Reisinger
See full article at CNet News

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Google Reportedly Willing to Spend Big to Acquire Hulu

READ WRITE WEB - Sep 6 - Hulu is reportedly seeing the most generous offer from Google. Google joins Yahoo, Amazon and the Dish Network in bidding on the company, but is apparently going above and beyond what those companies are willing to offer. The exact numbers are not known, but Google may well be offering "a couple billion dollars more" than the other bidders.

by John Paul Titlow
See full article at Read Write Web

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Dish Network Is Bidding for Hulu

MASHABLE - Sep 4 - Hulu is receiving bids from up to five potential buyers, including Dish Network, according to a report. Hulu’s owners — Walt Disney, News Corp., Comcast and Providence Equity Partners — will give the new buyer five years of rights to TV shows, including two years of exclusivity.

by Todd Wasserman
See full article at Mashable

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Hulu Now Live in Japan with Subscription-Only Service

TECH CRUNCH - Sep 1 - As expected, Hulu will offer both TV shows and movies across various devices for $20/month (1,480 Yen). Unlike in the U.S., where there are both free and premium versions, in Japan the service will be subscription-only. Hulu will stream American shows in both English and Japanese from CBS, NBC, and ABC, as well as movies. Hulu plans to add Japanese-produced shows and moveis as well.

by Erick Schonfeld
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Hulu Begins Expanding Outside the United States

READ WRITE WEB - Aug 10 - Television and movie-streaming service Hulu will be making its first move toward an international expansion soon when it launches in Japan. The service will be subscription-only and will be available across multiple platforms and devices, as Hulu Plus is in the US. The company has long eyed expansion into international markets, with rumors of a launch in the UK or Canada swirling as far back as 2008.

by John Paul Titlow
See full article at Read Write Web

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Hulu Accused of Infringing on Program Guide Patents

CNET NEWS - Aug 1 - Rovi Technologies, a provider of digital home-entertainment products, accused Hulu of infringing on three of its patents related to online TV program guides and search products. Rovi seeks compensation for the alleged infringement as well as attorneys' costs and related fees. Earlier this year Hulu put itself up for sale. Hulu, which is owned jointly by Fox parent News Corp., Walt Disney, Comcast, and equity firm Providence Equity Partners, has reportedly garnered interest from a slew of companies, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Yahoo.

by Steven Musil
See full article at CNet News

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Hulu Plus Is Set to Hit a Million Paid Subscribers

MASHABLE - July 7 - Hulu Plus, Hulu’s premium all-you-can-eat video offering, is fast-approaching 1M subscribers; it currently has upward of 875K paid subscribers and will pass the milestone before the end of the summer. Hulu is still on track to make half a billion dollars in 2011 and is the U.S. market share leader in online video advertising revenue.

by Jennifer Van Grove
See full article at Mashable

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Website Hulu Considers Sale

WSJ - June 22 - Web-video site Hulu is weighing whether to sell itself. Hulu's board is considering the move after a potential buyer for the company approached it with an unsolicited offer. Hulu is owned by Walt Disney Co., News Corp., media-focused buyout firm Providence Equity Partners and Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal, with employees also having a stake.

by Jessica Vascellaro & Anupreeta Das
See full article at WSJ

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Hulu Shares Financial Forecast

MASHABLE - Apr 5 - Hulu has revealed that it is on track to hit $500M in revenues this year and had 50% more advertisers in the Q1 2011 than the same period in 2010. Hulu also grew the number of content partners to Hulu Plus and Hulu from 211 in Q1 2010 to 264 in Q1 2011.

by Todd Wasserman
See full article at Mashable

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Hulu CEO Predicts $500M In Ad Revenues This Year

MASHABLE - Mar 1 - Hulu will hit $500M in advertising revenues this year, nearly doubling last year’s take, CEO Jason Kilar said. The site now claims 627 advertisers and 250 content partners, compared with only two advertisers when Hulu launched 18 months ago. Kilar had previously predicted that Hulu would post ~$240M in ad revenues in 2010. The actual figure was $263M, up from $108M in 2009.

by Todd Wasserman
See full article at Mashable

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Hulu Reworks Its Script As Digital Change Hits TV

WSJ - Jan 28 - Hulu, a pioneer of Internet TV, is in internal discussions to dramatically transform itself. The free online TV service has become one of the most-watched online video properties in the U.S. and a top earner of web-video ad $$ since its 2008 launch. But its owners, NBC Universal, News Corp. and Walt Disney, are increasingly at odds over Hulu's business model. Worried that free versions of their biggest TV shows are eating into their traditional business, the owners disagree among themselves, and with Hulu management, on how much of their content should be free. Fox Broadcasting owner News Corp. and ABC owner Disney are contemplating pulling some free content from Hulu. They are also moving to sell more programs to Hulu competitors that deliver television over the Internet. FULL ARTICLE @ WSJ

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Hulu Generated 1.1 Billion Video Ad Impressions In Oct

TECH CRUNCH - Nov 15 - According to ComsCore, Hulu saw 1.1 billion video ad impressions in Oct, compared to 793M video ad impressions in Sep. Video ads reached 45% of the total U.S. population an average of 34 times during the month. Whereas Hulu served the highest frequency of ads to its viewers in Sep (~of 27.5 over the course of the month); CWTV.com served served ~50.8 and took the top spot in Oct. Google Sites (whose traffic is mainly YouTube) had 146.3M unique viewers; Yahoo took the second spot again with 53.8M viewers, followed by Viacom Digital, which jumped by 4 positions in October with 52.9M viewers. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Hulu Projects $240 Million In Revenue In 2010

TECH CRUNCH - Nov 10 - Hulu, the online video service that offers offers TV shows, now has 30M users monthly and estimates it will rake in $240M in 2010, more than double its $108M revenue in 2009. Hulu now has 260M content streams, 800M ad streams and over 235 content partners and 352 ad clients. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Hulu Plus Opens To All, No Invite Needed

READ WRITE WEB - Nov 4 - Hulu Plus, the premium version of online video hub Hulu, has opened its doors to all, users no longer need an invitation. Hulu Plus is paid version of the TV and movie streaming service Hulu. Subscribers pay $9.99. FULL ARTICLE @ READ WRITE WEB

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Hulu Plus May See Big Price Cut

CNET NEWS - Oct 21 - Managers of the video portal may be mulling a price cut from $9.95 to $4.95. Hulu, the free video service operated by News Corp., Disney and NBC Universal, launched a separate premium service in June in an attempt to squeeze a little more revenue. After all, the company is planning to go public. It's never been totally clear how profitable the free-to-consumers ad-based service is for the owners. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS

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Hulu Prepping To File For $2 Billion IPO

TECH CRUNCH - Oct 8 - Hulu is preparing to IPO in the first half of 2011. Hulu will be looking to raise ~$200 - $300M in a deal valuing the company at ~$2 billion. While the company may claim high revenues ($100M in 2009), it is still not clear how profitable Hulu can be, or how viable its long-term survival will be. Hulu just launched its paid service, Hulu Plus, an ad-supported, premium subscription service that will run $9.99 per month and includes HD access to full season runs of shows from Fox, ABC, and NBC. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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Is Hulu Plus Worth The Cost?

FAST COMPANY - Aug 27 - Research firm One Touch Intelligence analyzed the catalogs of both Hulu and Hulu plus, and found that 88% of Hulu Plus's more than 28,000 episodes are also found on bog-standard free Hulu. If you're talking video clips, that percentage goes up to 98%. FULL ARTICLE @ FAST COMPANY

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