Hulu Updates its Search Results Page

In a posting on its corporate blog, Tuesday, broadcast network-owned broadband video service, Hulu (note: in late April--see the article posted on itvt.com, April 30th--it was announced that The Walt Disney Company, via its ABC Enterprises subsidiary, would join NBC Universal, Fox and Providence Equity Partners as a joint venture partner in and equity owner of Hulu--leaving CBS as the only major US broadcast network not participating in the service), announced some updates to its Search Results page, as well as to its Most Popular and Recently Added pages. "The most prominent change is cosmetic, as we have moved away from our former two-column grid and have given prominent placement to the show you're most likely searching for," the company said. "You can subscribe to the show, check on its availability, and get a brief description of the show, but you can easily pinpoint a specific episode using the browse tools to the upper right of the results. For current shows, such as 'Better off Ted' or 'America's Got Talent,' we'll default the most recent episode; for older shows, like 'Miami Vice,' we'll highlight the pilot episode (or the first episode we have if the pilot is unavailable). You can browse through the episodes available there, or scroll down the page to check out all the videos that match your search."

Users can refine their search results by using filter menus, which provide them with such options as the ability to display only clips or full episodes, and to sort by relevance or airdate. In addition, hearing-impaired viewers can now select a "cc only" option, which filters results for programs supporting closed captioning. The new look-and-feel and filter menus are also carried over to Hulu's Most Popular and Recently Added pages.

Hulu's search functionality update also sees "multiple clips or several episodes from a particular season of a show...now collapsed into a single entry that you can click on to expand," the company says. "That way, you can easily bypass the videos you're not interested in, but still easily delve into the content you do care about," it explains. In addition, Hulu says, "from the Time-Based Search page in Hulu Labs, you can also search for videos based on date and then use the Video Type filter to display clips or full episodes only."