Hulu Now Has Over 25 Million Subscribers

Hulu announced this week that it now has over 25 million active subscriptions in the US, a growth of 47 percent year-over-year. This, the firm says, makes the service bigger than the country’s largest cable and satellite pay TV providers.

“In 2018, Hulu led the industry in attracting and engaging subscribers, building a powerful technology stack and cultivating a brand that both consumers and advertisers love,” Hulu CEO Randy Freer said in a prepared statement. “Looking ahead, Hulu is in the best position to be the #1 choice for TV – live and on-demand, with and without commercials, both in and out of the home.”

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Hulu also notes that ad revenue grew over 45 percent in 2018 to nearly $1.5 billion, a record for the service.

As for content, Hulu says it now offers more TV episodes than any other US-based streaming service, with over 85,000 on-demand episodes. It also has a growing library of well-received Hulu Originals, like The Handmaid’s Tale, which collectively received 27 Emmy nominations in 2018. And its Hulu + Live TV service, which provides live and recorded TV functionality, now supports over 970 local live stations.

That said, Hulu—which was created by industry giants 21st Century Fox, AT&T, Comcast, and The Walt Disney Company—isn’t profitable. The firm lost about $440 million in the third quarter of 2018, and that number was over double its loss from a year earlier. And its biggest competitor, Netflix, has over twice as many subscribers as does Hulu.

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Conversation 6 comments

  • dan188

    08 January, 2019 - 1:07 pm

    <p>Netflix has been loosing a lot of old content to Hulu</p>

  • Skolvikings

    08 January, 2019 - 2:15 pm

    <p>My household subscribes to Hulu with Live TV. We've cut the cord and easily use Hulu 3x as much as Netflix or any of the other streaming services. It's good to hear they're increasing revenues and subscribers.</p>

  • dxtremebob

    Premium Member
    08 January, 2019 - 2:41 pm

    <p>I'm hoping Hulu picks up "Timeless."</p>

  • Chris_Kez

    Premium Member
    08 January, 2019 - 4:20 pm

    <p>It will be interesting to see what happens with Hulu in 2019. Disney will own 60% of Hulu and could potentially buy Warner Media's 10% stake, leaving 30% in the hands of Comcast (which licenses their NBC content to Hulu). What does Disney do in light of their plans to roll out their own streaming service? Does Comcast want to stick around just to annoy Disney? Do they start their own streaming service and pull the NBC content?</p>

  • Jeffsters

    09 January, 2019 - 4:03 am

    <p>It’s because the lowered the cost of entry with commercial supported packages to 99 cents per month or 12 months hence it’s also losing money.</p>

  • BBoileau

    Premium Member
    09 January, 2019 - 7:53 am

    <p>With Netflix content about to take a big hit, Hulu may be poised to take their market share. It would be nice if they understood the global influence that Netflix has and started setting up shop in other markets. Here in Canada, there is a lot of concern that the content hit at Netflix is going to set the cord-cutting revolution back quite a bit. We have been waiting for Hulu for too long. I'm not certain that the CRTC (Canada's Telco Regulator) would be difficult to navigate as they understand the mandate to modernize and provide choice over the current Big 3 telcos. </p>

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