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Hulu is a subscription streaming platform established in 2007 as a joint venture between News Corporation and NBC Universal. Hulu offers access to shows from almost every major US broadcast, a library of movies and TV shows, and award-winning Hulu Originals. Hulu is available only in the US and Japan as of now. It is currently partly owned by the Walt Disney Company and has a whopping 48 Million subscribers in the US, giving major streaming giants a run for their money.
Some of the most well-known originals from Hulu include Normal People, The Handmaid's Tale, Letterkenny, Dopesick, etc. Hulu has been developing quality content and is on a spree to build a customer experience to compete with the streaming giant Netflix.
Hulu's $100 Million Investment
Hulu was established in 2007 with the help of Beth Comstock and Jason Kilar, with an ensemble of founding partners like AOL, Facebook, Comcast, MSN, Yahoo, etc. It was established as a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corporation with an early investment of $100 Million by Providence Equity Partners, as per Britannica. It was eventually made available for public access on March 12, 2008. The Hulu Syndication Network was the first product released by the future streaming giant.
Hulu started its advertising campaign in 2008 during NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII by roping in Alec Baldwin. In April 2009, Walt Disney Company joined Hulu as a stakeholder willing to offer content from ABC, ESPN, and Disney Channel. Hulu’s then-CEO Jason Kilar reported in 2010 that the platform was running profitably and was expecting to top $100 Million in revenue, which was an exponential growth from the previous year.
Hulu's Unsolicited Buyout Offer
Hulu was riding high on success during the start of 2010 with 900 Million monthly video streams monthly, second only to YouTube. Later in 2010, it was also reported that Hulu might have an IPO that would skyrocket its valuation to $2 Billion. As reported by Wall Street Journal, Hulu received an unsolicited buyout offer in 2011, pushing all the officials into a dilemma.
Fortunately, the company owners decided to refrain from proceeding with the deal as none of the bidders could provide a satisfactory price for the invaluable company. Hulu became the first streaming platform to launch original content with the release of its first original, A Day In The Life, in 2011. In the same year, Hulu went international and launched in Japan, which is, to date, the only country Hulu operates in other than the US. Hulu reported a $420 Million revenue in 2011, and in 2012 Providence Equity Partners exited Hulu by selling off their 10% stake.
The Acquisition That Never Happened
Through the mid-2010s, Hulu continued to grow by adding premium networks like Cinemax to its library and launching a commercial-free plan in 2015. Hulu hit 12 Million subscribers in 2016 and introduced game-changing Live TV additions to its platform, giving it an edge over other streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime. In 2017 Hulu released one of its most critically acclaimed shows, Handmaid’s Tale, which went on to win an Emmy Award For Outstanding Drama Series, making Hulu the first streaming service to do so, as per Adweek.
In 2019, The Walt Disney Company acquired 20th Century Fox, which led it to own a 60% stake in Hulu. Disney went on to acquire WarnerMedia’s share of Hulu taking its stake to 67%, leaving Comcast with 33%. Hulu is currently completely controlled by Disney, and Comcast will relinquish its remaining stake to Disney by 2024, making The Walt Disney Company the sole owner of Hulu, as reported by The Verge.
Netflix has been the leading streaming platform for years and is still going strong, but Hulu is quietly building and improving its customer experience to compete with it. Hulu might have a smaller subscriber base and worldwide reach than Netflix, but it has invested heavily in original content like Normal People, Dopesick, and Handmaid’s Tale, which have swept through several Emmy Awards.
Hulu also has a customer-friendly interface that organizes content by category and provides separate home screens for events like the Olympics. It also uses an enhanced recommendation engine that tracks what users watch and when thus giving the subscribers a customized experience. Another thing that gives Hulu an edge over other platforms is the combination of Live TV with the streaming service.
Despite its presence in just two countries, Hulu has a subscriber base of 48 Million, which is just second to Netflix in the US. It has made a loyal subscriber base with its top-notch originals, enormous library, and innovative methods of building customer experience. Hulu is hell-bent on developing the best customer experience by implementing smart and state-of-the-art analysis tools and providing flexibility to customers with a plethora of subscription plans. Hulu is valued at a whopping $27.5 Billion currently.
Sources: Adweek, Wall Street Journal, Britannica, The Verge
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