Hulu et Joost:

As Hulu continues to eat up my time over the long weekend, I couldn't help wonder how much the fortunes of these two companies have changed over the years. As much as I dislike Google Trends as a means to draw conclusions. the graph below does tell a story.

As Hulu continues to add pretty decent features, execute steadily on a monetization strategy, and add interesting content (well, in the US anyway :)) ,  Joost just continues to struggle in each of these departments and more.

The major lesson here? Like most good advice, it can be summed up by something you would hear from you mom: "Don't judge a book by its cover."

• Don't be too quick to judge: The assumption was that great pedigree, and early content deals were an indicator of the success Joost would have.
• Don't be too harsh to judge: Too many people assumed that their Old Media backers would mean that Hulu would be incompetent/execute poorly.
• Be charitable early, instead of late: Instead of mocking it early, as so many in the blogosphere did only to backtrack later, be more objective and less judgemental early on.

All, easier said than done though.:)