Last week, I had a conversation with my friend. It went like this:

Him: “Did you watch Glee last night?”

Me: “No, I didn’t get a chance. I had a ton of homework.”

Him: “Are you going to watch it today?”

Me: “Of course!”

Him: “Hulu?”

Me: “You guessed it!”

And that’s pretty much how every conversation goes about television shows between my friends and me. I used to watch television live, but I just don’t have time for it anymore. And with three younger sisters filling up the DVR with Hannah Montana, I have to move to something online. My conclusion: Hulu – a video streaming site featuring TV shows and movies from NBC, Fox, ABC, and a plethora of other television networks.

But it’s not just me. Last month, 24 million other people made that conclusion.

In the first year of Hulu’s existence, their content library has grown 333 percent, from 12,000 videos in March 2008 to 40,000 videos as of today. Today it includes over 7,100 hours of premium video. And as of March of this year, more than 3.9 million Hulu players have been embedded across more than 100,000 websites.

The numbers are through the roof. But how did Hulu become so increasingly popular in less than a year? Glancing through the user feedback posted on Hulu’s website, users enjoy the service for a number of reasons, namely (a) the service is legal, (b) the ads are short, (c) the shows are posted in high quality, (d) the interface is clean and simple, (e) and users are inviting their friends to check out the sites.

Imagine you’re reading your favorite blog, and you click an embedded video. But what you find is something more than that – an entire television show. The embedded video looks so professionally created, that you click through to Hulu, browse around, and find a treasury of videos that are just waiting to be watched. And what happens when 3.9 million Hulu players are embedded across thousands of blogs? The web traffic goes through the roof!

With all this in mind, Hulu certainly adds some flair to your website. In our cyber society, where stylistic websites tend to attract more web traffic than bland ones, the use of Hulu makes a statement. It says “My website isn’t like all those other ones. It’s chic and it has a personality.” And people from all over the world will understand what you mean when they click to view the HD video embedded in your website.