Earlier this month, Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan took to Twitter to discuss the ever-growing rift between showrunners and Hulu: namely, without an adequate ratings system or business model, Hulu and other web streaming outlets (like his own network's ABC.com) are costing him and other producers money. Fair point, indeed, but what does Levitan have in mind to correct this? Hint: Commercials.
During a lengthy interview with THR, Levitan lays out many strong points about the problems with Hulu, including the fact that it doesn't produce revenue for the networks. His three-point solution?
"1) Show Modern Family online, but include all the same commercials. The CW sold its 2010-11 upfront ad inventory this way and was able to charge higher rates than if the spots were on network alone. 2) Make those online viewership numbers readily available to everyone. 3) If some people want to view the show without commercials, then, by all means, allow them to do that for a fee."
Can't really argue with that -- and watching actual commercials on Hulu would certainly be better than those Smokey the Bear PSAs that sometimes pop up during breaks -- but do people want to sit through minutes of broadcast commercials on the internet? According to Levitan, everyone should.
Shows like 30 Rock and Lost and The Office are expensive to produce. Plus these "hits" cover the costs of all the misses. If viewers want to continue to see quality content like that, then we have to find a way to keep it profitable. Otherwise, we'll all be watching clips of a sneezing panda -- which, by the way, were adorable.
Yikes. Feel free to insert a joke about sneezing panda clips and NBC's primetime lineup here.
ยท 'Modern Family' Creator: Why I Took on Hulu [THR/The Live Feed]