Hulu vs. YouTube II: 'Family Guy' Takeover

A few weeks ago we saw that Hulu, the web video site from NBC Universal and Fox, had opened a promotional front on competitor YouTube.  Hulu simply said that they were using YouTube to showcase some of the material available on their home site, so what's the big deal?  Everyone else does it. 

But this week, Hulu's YouTube channel was one of the most viewed channels on the site, and last night, Hulu clips accounted for eight of YouTube's top 16 most viewed clips, including the top two.  Some have theorized that Hulu's 'Tube incursion is a result of disappointing post-launch traffic at Hulu itself, but if you believe Alexa, the site has in fact been riding a gentle traffic increase for several weeks now.  The truth is surely much simpler: more people want to watch "Family Guy" clips online than have heard of Hulu -- a lot more.  From that perspective, using the short YouTube "Family Guy" videos as breadcrumbs that lead back to Hulu, where viewers can watch full episodes, might be a winning strategy.