Hulu has lost Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” in a dispute with the network over almighty advertising revenue — but the real implications could be far more reaching than a loss of popular content. Hulu’s days as a destination for free online video may be numbered.
The once-groundbreaking video-on-demand website may not be able to run on pre-roll ads alone, which don’t generate as much revenue as broadcast commercials. And the obvious alternative — charging subscription or pay-per-view fees to viewers — is likely to simply drive them back to live TV or DVR use.
Comedy Central’s decision to revoke its content from Hulu is just the latest blow to the site, which has struggled to support itself with ads. This will reduce traffic as viewers look elsewhere online for Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and other Comedy Central personalities. The inevitable addition of usage fees for consumers will only serve to reduce that traffic even further.
Hulu, in the end, may have innovated itself out of existence, certainly as it was envisioned. Adding a fee structure could attract new and potentially better content — but the Hulu that users fell in love with will be gone, replaced with another Amazon Unbox, iTunes or Netflix.
Will Hulu be just another footnote in the expansive history of online applications? Stay tuned.
