Hulu's rise over the past couple of years "drastically decreased TV-show piracy in the U.S.," according to TorrentFreak.
The thing about the numbers game is that if you pay for a traffic and demographics package it seems wrong. If we truly want an independent judge of internet traffic we need to look to a free service as they are not tainted by the need to keep their paying customers happy.
The solution to this whole thing is easy: Hulu, show us the numbers. Show us some stats tracking logs that support your claims. If you want to take Nielsen to task over what you believe to be shoddy statistics generation, then put forth some cold hard facts and have them independently verified. Until you do, your traffic will continue to be a mystery and all of the reputations of the parties involved may take the true hit.
Business model