Video goes with piracy almost as much as music does. For both mediums, a new phrase may need to be coined: “piracy is the sincerest form of flattery”.
I’m not joking, not really. While this is only speaking from my personal experience and conversations with others, I suspect that most piracy is not for profit. People grab their favorite clips and post them online because they think that they are hilarious and need to be shared with the world.
In the last few years the struggle between studios and privacy has been one of threats, inaction, and bitching.
This year we’ve seen a dramatic turn from the bitter fighting over video rights online to an embrace of the open nature of the web. It’s truly amazing, and not something I expected to see happen so fast. Let’s look at two examples.
Hulu
Hulu is a project that I (and many others) harbored intense skepticism towards during it’s development. The whole concept of the television studios ganging up to create a rival to YouTube seemed childish, and we all expected them to do a horrible job.
Whatever the intentions, the people who actually built Hulu did an amazing job, and my personal TV watches has almost entirely moved to Hulu. I’ve heard many others raving about it, including the usually skeptical Michael Arrington.
Why do jaded Web 2.0 users like Hulu? They’ve done a few things right, and a few more great.
Giving The People What They Want
Hulu could have gone the cowardly way and only offered up lame, old shows that nobody was interested in. Netflix faced this issue with their “Play Now” option…studios only OK’d stuff that was unlikely to get rented anyway (although their selection continues to improve, and I love watching SeaQuest on Netflix).
Instead, Hulu has provided some of the top shows on television: The Office, The Daily Show, House, The Colbert Report, The Simpsons, 30 Rock, Saturday Night LIfe, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Family Guy (a YouTube favorite, which currently has 88,100 probably illegal results).
Don’t Be Stingy
When you hold all the power, it’s tempting to stingily hand out goods at the slowest rate possible. Hulu managed to resist this, and their shows often show up the next morning. It’s hard to beat the experience of waking up on a Wednesday morning and watching The Daily Show from the night before while still in bed.
Hulu does sometimes set experation dates on their shows, but they make this very clear. I think the average consumer understands that if they want constant access to a whole season they should buy a DVD.
Monetization Is Changing
In a move that is in some ways more innovative than any monetization work YouTube has done,
Hulu has started offering the option to watch a full-length trailer or ad (like the Tropic Thunder trailer seen in this image) in exchange for not showing any other ads during the episode. I assume (and hope) that they’re tracking this and adjusting their advertising appropriately.
Innovation
One of the most innovative features to come out of online video in the last few months didn’t come from YouTube or any of the newer “Web 2.0” video sites…it came from Hulu.
Being able to select any part of an episode and send/share it as a clip is probably the most obvious and brilliant answer to the multitude of Simpsons clips on YouTube. And Hulu does it very, very well, making sure to suggest that you might want to watch the rest of the episode after your clip is over.
Monty Python on YouTube
Along with Family Guy clips and embarassing teen confessionals, Monty Python is a common search on YouTube. With over thirty thousand results on YouTube, it’s safe to say that this is money lost for Monty Python, who aren’t exactly actively promoting their old (and brilliant) material.
But, in a move humerously described by John Cleese as “deeply disappointing”, the comedy troupe has started a YouTube channel and is offering high resolution versions of their videos for free. This is a brilliant move for several reasons.
If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em
In their introductory video (embedded below), Monty Python jokes that “for three years, you YouTubers have been ripping us off, putting tens of thousands of our videos up on YouTube.” It’s funny, but it’s also true, and probably a bit irritating for them. Yet instead of throwing a tantrum, the Pythons made the smart move to work with the existing trends and technology instead of uslessly flailing against them. In admitting this, they give YouTubers some credit and foster a sense of belonging instead of reluctant surrender.
Transparency In Advertising
A lot of advertising I see online feels like an apology. “Sorry, I had to slip this in to be able to keep doing this for a living”. Worse, they are often purposefully ignored. “Ads? What ads? Oh, how did those slip into my blog?”
Refreshingly, Monty Python has ignored this. They know they have a piracy issue, and they know that online video does not monetize nearly as well as TV.
The solution? Ask.
Monty Python simply asks their raving fans to do them a favor and click their ads. Simple as that. During a the “Ministry of Silly Walks” video I clicked a Bombay Sapphire ad. Would I have done that on a normal video? No. But I did it for Monty Python, and actually discovered a cool recepie widget on the Bombay Sapphire site.
Listen To The Wisdom of the Crowd
Again, instead of taking the stingy path and only putting up the less funny Monty Python skits (if there truly are any), our British friends took a look at the most popular Monty Python videos on YouTube and worked to get those up as the first hi-rez videos on their new channel. They listened, and will likely be rewarded by a number of views.
Is The War Over?
Nah, of course not. Many TV studious (notably ABC) have not gotten involved in Hulu, and many companies still work to try to sue people who are “stealing” their videos instead of working to satisfy these people. Still, it’s impressive to see the progress made this year and encouraging to think that even large companies can wise up and come up with something as smart as Hulu. Next up, the music industry?