Hulu Finds The Pirates' Gold

Hulu, the online web TV channel launched by NBC and Fox, is small but growing quickly.  The Economist reports on one technique it's using to guide the service - P2P file sharing as an ad pricing tool.  "Knowing what is popular among file-sharers could help broadcasters and film studios when negotiating with advertisers, for example.  Hulu, a website operated by News Corporation that offers free, advertising-supported video-streaming, already uses file-sharing statistics to design its programming and to set advertising rates.  Many music executives were reluctant to take advantage of file-sharing statistics because of the trouble the technology has caused in the industry. TV stations and film studios, by contrast, are “sprinting through the stages of grief”—and coming to terms with the reality that details of the illegal use of their material can, in fact, be very useful indeed."