Disney joins the Hulu club; No. 2 in videos viewed likely
Disney has bought into Hulu joining NBC Universal and News Corp.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed in a statement, but multiple reports (Techmeme) put the Disney stake at 30 percent.
Hulu, a YouTube rival, has overcome initial doubts to become wildly successful. Hulu's financials aren't known, but the site appears to becoming an effective way to distribute video content and the ads that go with them.
In March, Hulu cracked the top 3 in comScore's ranking of videos viewed on the Web. The additional content from Disney should propel Hulu into the No. 2 spot, but the video site will still be well behind Google and its YouTube juggernaut. In March, Hulu had 41.5 million unique viewers. Google sites had 100.4 million uniques.
The Disney move to join Hulu is also notable because three of the four major networks are now on board. CBS, parent of ZDNet, is the lone holdout and has a similar site called TV.com. I'll ask around to see what our plans are (as if they'll tell me).
Hulu will now carry ABC shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives as well as soap operas Disney Channel franchises. Disney will have three seats--occupied by Disney CEO Bob Iger; Disney Media co-chair Anne Sweeney; and Kevin Meyer, Disney/ABC TV executive VP of corporate strategy, business development and technology---on Hulu's board.