Undoubtedly the execs over at Google, parent company of YouTube have been keeping an eye on Hulu. The NBC Universal and News Corp venture company Hulu has been making a huge splash with the video content they’ve been releasing.

Unlike YouTube, Hulu releases content only relating to the entertainment industry. So, you can go there and watch TV shows, movies, shorter clips. Hulu has found ways to make profit off of the free service as well, and it’s through advertising.

YouTube has announced that they plan to fire back as they’re in the works for releasing full length movies. They’ve try to monetize on the short, user submitted movies but so far have been relatively unsuccessful.

So, does YouTube have a chance or is it too late? I’d like to think that if they keep thinking creatively they could still monetize off the platform they use now. If they try and install a new commercial base, I think they’ll see a drop off in viewership.

People don’t go to YouTube to watch commercial media. It’s a community where people are able to become a part of something bigger than what’s available through Hollywood, and the like. It’s a great niche site, and I’d really hate to see it lose its way.

I think if YouTube does switch platforms and focuses on a fight against Hulu we could see dire outcomes. More advertising, and less of the user content that made YouTube so great in the first place. Instead of trying to profit off what Hulu has done, why not keep trying to think of creative ways to monetize its current platform. It’s owned by Google for crying out loud, I’m sure they can think of something.

As for now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!