Digital Chiefs Agree Hulu Rules, But Will That Save It?

When you talk about TV online, you can’t help but give props to Hulu — even if you’re a media mogul or a direct competitor. On Tuesday, the Hollywood Radio and Television Society (with some organizational assistance from 7 Robot) hosted a panel discussion in Los Angeles on the future of new media in the digital age. It was there Hulu CEO Jason Kilar laid out why, exactly, Hulu is its own worst enemy.

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar at NewTeeVee Live 2008

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar at NewTeeVee Live 2008

Panel moderator and Disney CEO Bob Iger — now a Hulu investor — fessed up to originally being a Hulu naysayer, but he and the other panelists — YouTube’s Chad Hurley, News Corp’s Jonathan Miller, and Wired’s Chris Anderson — all offered respect for Hulu’s success within the space.

Kilar attributed high ad and content recall on Hulu in part to the site’s design, which is deliberately stripped down (no banner ads, no animation) to focus the user on the content and related advertisements. “When you make a conscious choice to click on something and watch it, you’re much more engaged,” he said, saying that Hulu audiences were 15 percent better than offline audiences at answering questions about plot details of content they’d just watched. Joked Iger: “Maybe I’d understand Lost better if I watched it online.”

Kilar is of the opinion that premium content from HBO will not be ad-supported in our lifetimes — instead suggesting subscription models are more appropriate. However, he didn’t comment directly on a couple of elephants in the room: how Hulu will adapt to traditional TV distributors’ “TV Everywhere” initiatives and whether the site will implement a subscription model.

When asked about the technology that most inspires him currently, Kilar praised Twitter’s real-time search for providing him with up-to-the-minute user feedback. “It changed my life. I check it every 20 minutes throughout the day,” he said, attributing many changes implemented on the service to user feedback.

However, Hulu’s fate ultimately rests with its studio partners. Iger summed up the dilemma as follows: “You have to pay [studios] a certain amount of money to provide content to a platform that’s ultimately a competitor.” And Kilar was upfront about Hulu’s major draw being the content it provides. “You can’t substitute 30 Rock for another show,” he said. “You can’t get Tina Fey anywhere else.”

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