Hulu Tops 17 Million Subscribers
January 9, 2018
Hulu, the over-the-top video service co-owned by Disney, Comcast, Time Warner and Fox, Jan. 9 revealed it ended 2017 with more than 17 million subscribers.
The tally is surprising considering Hulu reported 15 million subs in 2016, and rival Netflix ended 2017 with 54 million domestic subs.
In the intervening months, Hulu has upped marketing and content spend significantly, in addition to winning industry awards, including Emmy and Golden Globes wins for “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Regardless, the SVOD service said it generated $1 billion in ad-revenue for the first time. It now has more than 75,000 episodic programs on-demand across 1,700 titles.
In addition to a separate standalone online TV service called “Hulu With Live TV,” the Hulu SVOD service could figure prominently in Disney’s future OTT video plans when its $52 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and select TV assets is approved by regulators. Indeed, Disney would become majority stake holder in Hulu.
Interestingly, the median age of a Hulu consumer is 31 with a median annual household income of $92,000. By comparison, the median age of a TV household is 55.
“2017 was a momentous year for Hulu. We took several major steps to become a 21st century direct-to-consumer media company, evolving into both an aggressive SVOD business and a formidable new live TV provider,” CEO Randy Freer said in a statement.