Hulu Follows Netflix in Adding Podcasts – What Are We Doing Here?

Hulu appears to be totally out of ideas. First, Hulu spent a bunch of money on standup comedy specials after they proved popular with Netflix. Now, Hulu is following its main rival by adding video podcasts to the service.

Deadline reports Hulu will be home to the comedy podcast “We’re Here to Help” with Jake Johnson and Gareth Reynolds starting Feb. 10.

Can we take a timeout and look at what’s happening here?

Podcasts are obviously popular and very cheap to produce. I listen to them all the time. On very rare occasions, I’ll watch an episode on YouTube. But there is no chance I’m going to watch a podcast on either Netflix or Hulu.

There’s been a slow erosion of quality across all streaming services. When Disney+ launched in 2019, they spent $100 million on the first season of “The Mandalorian.” It looked and sounded epic. It had movie-quality special effects. It was a shot across the bow of its competitors. Now, Disney+ is turning to AI and user-generated content. It will look and feel as disposable as every other piece of social media you’ll encounter on your nightly doom-scroll.

Why have these prestige streamers thrown up their hands to court a handful of dudes with microphones and no scripts?

The YouTube Problem

YouTube is sucking the air out of Hollywood. There’s a low barrier to entry. It’s free. There’s enough content that everyone can find something to watch and enjoy, no matter how niche.

As ratings company Nielsen shows, YouTube topped all distributors for TV time in December.

So think of all those old artists, painstakingly crafting every cel of a Disney animated movie. They spent years at art school and working their way up, finally getting the chance to create a piece of cinema that will be cherished by generations.

Audiences are passing up artisinal collaborations to watch some moron with a selfie video throwing a milkshake back at a fast food drive-through worker.

I don’t want to be too reductive. There’s some great stuff on YouTube. Netflix hired YouTuber and former NASA engineer Mark Rober to create original content. Say what you will about MrBeast, but he’s going above and beyond with his videos, and Prime Video rewarded him with his own show.

But I’ve also seen what my nephews watch on YouTube and I’m becoming radicalized that we need some kind of legislation against prank videos.

In any case, YouTube’s incentive structure rewards the most viral, “sticky” content. People are getting rich doing some very dumb stuff.

Companies like Netflix and Hulu are supposed to act as gatekeepers of quality, ensuring that we’re getting entertainment worth our hard-earned dollars. But that means managing writers and actors and locations and directors. It means shooting an entire season of a show or handing Ryan Reynolds a $116 million budget to make a forgettable knock-off of “Back to the Future.” You never really know what’s going to work. “Squid Game” cost $21 million for its first season.

YouTube is finding success because they have so many people throwing so many things against the wall so cheaply, something is bound to stick. It’s likely 99.9% of YouTube creators fail to connect with an audience. I have a channel where I upload old TV commercials pulled from my late grandma’s VHS collection and it has 9,685,833 views over the last 14 years. The videos I’ve actually worked hard on? Nowhere near that number.

Because scripted entertainment is expensive, companies have turned to reality shows. Ever since “Survivor” upended the landscape in 2000, TV channels have used it as a reliably cheap slot-filler. There’s “The Bachelor” and “American Idol” and “The Voice” and a million other shows clogging TV and costing next to nothing.

What’s cheaper than a reality show? A podcast. We’re usually looking at sets one notch above “Between Two Ferns.” It’s usually a pair of couches and microphones. The quality of the hosts and guests is scattershot at best. While some shows take preparation seriously, many are just C-list celebrities interviewing other C-list celebrities. I saw the “Smartless” podcast live (as a favor to a fan of the podcast) and it was one of the dullest evenings of my life.

There is a place for that kind of entertainment! Not everything needs to be “Avatar.” But if I’m paying nearly $20/month for a streaming service without ads, I hope I’m getting something I can’t see anywhere else.

Hulu and Netflix can add podcasts all they want, but if they don’t invest in narrative drama, action, or comedy, I won’t stick around.