Seeing that this was news to me after seeing a thread on Twitter yesterday, I can only assume there are a lot of other coaches out there that will be reading this for the first time.
Hudl is planning some major changes to how film is being stored that is going to affect nearly all of their users.
From the sounds of it, Hudl is adopting a new storage policy that will affect the games you've archived. In the past, games that you've tagged as your actual game film have notcounted against your storage quota, but that is going to change.
There are a whole lot of programs out there that use both wide and end zone shots, so what about them? Having two angles will double the amount of video, cutting down your available storage even more.
That's when Coach Bolland, who started the thread with Hudl Support, did some math of his own and included his archived film they've been able to store on Hudl as well as scout film and archived games for the JV and Freshman level at his school that are done through his account.
That breakdown by Coach Bolland doesn't take into account teams that are putting their daily practice film into Hudl, and all the games and clinic cut-ups that you accumulate throughout the course of an off season. Hudl seems paint it as programs will still have plenty of storage, but that space gets eaten up really, really quickly when all the extra necessary stuff gets added up.
Obviously, Hudl has had the market cornered on football game film and exchange for quite some time, and with so many teams on board (and some state associations and conferences even mandating the use of Hudl) they're dedicating a lot of resources to storing everyone's video and, from a business perspective, that would have been hard to do forever.
Hudl didn't provide a tweet in response when asked when the changes will take place, but after I shared a tweet about the changes Hudl has planned and based on the feedback, it's safe to say there are a lot of coaches out there not happy about this change on the horizon.
I have reached out to Hudl for some clarification, and will provide an update when I hear back. Stay tuned.
Update >>Hudl has provided an update saying both their pricing and storage options are undergoing changes for the first time since 2006. Here's the release they've shared highlighting the coming changes.
In addition to the storage change, the pricing model is also undergoing a bit of a change with the Silver package going from $800 annually to $900 annually, the Gold Package will go from $1,400 to $1,600 and the Platinum Package will go from $3,000 to $3,300.
Here's a visual on the how exactly storage will change, based on your package. Keep in mind that these storage hours are for your entire program - Varsity, JV and Freshman levels.
This change only effects storage, and there are no price changes planned for Hudl sideline or assist.
Hudl shares that the changes will officially go into effect in August, and all subscriptions that renew on or after June 1 will see the updated pricing model.