Hulu Plus is a service that allows you, for the monthly fee of $7.99 / month, to watch Hulu content on devices such as your Xbox or iPad. Sounds good, right? Hulu has some really good TV shows available, such as House, Castle and The Office. Also, movies! Pretty cool, eh?
Not to worry though, with Hulu Plus on the Xbox 360, you won’t be able to find anything. Who the hell designed this?
Let’s start by going through the signing up process. With Netflix, to add a device, you simply go to your computer, type in the activation URL, log in, and enter the activation code displayed on your TV screen. Done. On Hulu? Not that simple. Fire up Hulu Plus on your Xbox, get activation code, go to your laptop and browse to the (too complex) activation URL, then try to locate the “activate device” link.
I’ll wait.
It’s under account settings. Hey Hulu, make it simple for us, add a very visible “Activate Device” link or tab somewhere for new users. Simple good, Complex bad.
Ok, all signed up, let’s find something to watch.
I’m in the mood for a movie. Not sure what I feel like watching, so let’s check out the “Popular Movies” menu item. The most popular movies on Hulu as I write this are:
1. Beer Wars (Documentary about beer. Don’t get me wrong, I like beer, but I don’t want to watch a movie about it)
2. Strictly Sexual (From the description: “Two successful women, sick and tired of dating and relationships, decide to keep two young men in their pool house for strictly sexual purposes.” And here I thought that everyone who uses the internet knows how to find porn if they want it. I’m obviously wrong.)
3. Gamers (“Hilarious journey into the world of MMO games like World of Warcraft”. Hilarious and World of Warcraft are two words that belong in the same sentence, however, the context of this particular sentence is wrong.)
4. Chicken Ranch (Seriously?)
5. The Dungeon Masters (“The Dungeon Masters highlights two men and one woman who devote their lives to D&D”. I loved D&D when I was 13. I don’t want to spend 1 hour and 28 minutes watching a movie about it. )
Wow. I think I can figure out what your target market is here, Hulu. Let’s see. Beer, Sex, Gaming and D&D. (Yes, I’m ignoring Chicken Ranch, because seriously, would you click through to figure out what it’s about?). These are the most popular movies on Hulu?
Oh well, let’s check out what’s been recently added, maybe there’s something there?
Recently Added Movies
1. Come On Children (1973)
2. Ornamental Hairpin (1941)
3. Dying at Grace (2003)
4. Osaka Elergy (1936)
5. A Married Couple (1969)
Two of them are in black and white. One of them from this century. Go Hulu.
Now given, Hulu is more focused on TV shows, with ABC, FOX, NBC, BBC America and Comedy Central signed up. So let’s check out the TV show selection. Friday Night Lights is a great show that I’ve been wanting to re-watch. (To find Friday Night Lights, “simply” go to “All TV + Movies”, “TV Networks” and scroll to “N” for NBC.). Seasons 1-5 listed, woohoo! We’re in business! Oh wait. They only have episodes 11-15 of season 1 available. And they can only be watched on the web, not on the 360. WTF?
Maybe it’s an NBC licensing thing. Let’s try another good show, this time on ABC, Castle. Seasons 1-3 listed. Nope. Only season 3 available. Sigh.
Hulu, this is not how people watch TV content. It’s a small sample, but your interface makes me want to throw up and I don’t feel like going through the pain of finding more. You need a recommendation engine like Netflix asap.
All whining aside, this will obviously be played out by what company gets what deals with what networks. For now, $8.65 / month for Netflix is a much better deal.
Update, May 16th, 2011: As if to prove my point, the most popular search term that finds this article? “Hulu Activation Code”.
