Google has announced that it’s shifting gears and testing full-length programming on YouTube.

This is a result of the problem we identified earlier this year: 97% of YouTube’s content is deadweight, financially, and Hulu is close to overtaking the site, as a result.

Popular Internet television site Hulu today introduced two new features. The first, Channels, aims to simplify navigation, while the second, Discussion Boards, introduces a social media aspect to the site.

Nielsen has released its VideoCensus rankings of the top online video sites for July, and it looks like long-tail television site Hulu is the company to watch.
In July, Hulu’s traffic grew to 105 million streams per month, and the site leapfrogged several competitors to become eighth most popular vide site. Not bad for a site [...]

Silicon Alley Insider’s Dan Frommer today is challenging Apple to move Apple TV from being a “hobby” to being a real business:
If Steve Jobs wants to make a serious run at owning our living room’s “digital hub,” then Apple TV needs a serious overhaul, ASAP.
Why now? Because even though the industry is still nascent, the [...]

Google’s problem with YouTube is even bigger than many thought.
More than 97% of YouTube’s videos are deadweight - videos that the company can’t put ads on.
According to Silicon Alley Insider’s Michael Learmonth:
We know Google’s (GOOG) YouTube is a tough sell for advertisers. But video site’s sales team may be having an even tougher time than [...]

Google has a problem.
It’s got the biggest video destination on the Internet - YouTube - but it’s struggling to find a way to make money with the site.
Meanwhile, Hulu is “kicking YouTube’s ass”, and building a business on long tail video that’s advertiser-friendly.
Google’s problem, in a nutshell, is the fact that most of the content [...]

Silicon Alley Advisor’s Michael Learmonth has an interesting analysis today about Hulu - calling it a consumer success, but still a small business.

“On the low end, we estimate that Hulu.com will generate close to the revenue generated by, say NBC.com, which is said to generate “tens of millions” in revenue this year. On the high end, Hulu would net $90 million in gross ad sales — in the same league as some estimates for YouTube.”

It’s a good analysis - but Learmonth misses a key difference between Hulu and YouTube….

Internet TV site Hulu is fighting back at users that use ad-blocking software, warning them that they need to disable the software.
“This program is brought to you by Hulu’s advertising partners,” notes the site. “If you see this message repeatedly, you may need to disable your ad blocking software.”
The video then resumes playing after 30 [...]

Mark Cuban has a must-read post over at Blog Maverick looking at Internet television service Hulu and Google’s struggle to make its investment in YouTube pay off.
Cuban argues that Google made a billion-dollar mistake buying YouTube, and that Hulu is “kicking YouTube’s ass”.
It’s an interesting comparison, and one that may provide some insight into the [...]

Internet research firm HitWise reports that, while Hulu is getting big shows, it’s not getting big audiences. 
Hulu.com., the joint venture between Fox and NBC that provides streaming video content online, came out of beta on March 15 and has seen a steady share of US Internet traffic since:

Alexa’s reach chart mirrors this:

The site ranked 33 [...]