Hulu is beginning to roll out Netflix-style individual user profiles

By Kris Wouk December 8, 2016

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If more than one person watches TV shows and movies on your Hulu account, chances are good that you’ve found yourself getting recommendations that don’t exactly apply to you. Netflix and a few other services have solved this problem by offering support for multiple profiles, and now Hulu is beginning to follow suit.

“TV is very personal and we know people share their Hulu with spouses, kids, and family members,” Hulu’s Richard Irving wrote in a post on the company’s blog on Thursday. “Inevitably, you may not be as enthusiastic about Sci-Fi as your spouse. And it is likely that new episodes of Doc McStuffins are not quite as exciting for you as they are for your children. The next step in creating the most personal TV experience is introducing profiles.”

A single Hulu account can have up to six unique profiles. In addition to recommendations, each profile has its own viewing history, information, and Watchlist, and even includes a personalized home page.

hulu-user-profiles — Image used with permission by copyright holder

When first setting up a new profile, the viewer will be presented with a brief quiz. This allows the viewer to customize the recommendations they’ll be getting by telling the service which types of TV shows and movies they prefer. Once they start watching, the same recommendation engine Hulu has been using until now will further tailor the profile to them.

Similar to Netflix, this new profiles feature includes a special kids-only option, which Hulu calls the Kids Hub. This allows younger viewers to freely browse through shows and movies without the potential for running into mature content or other unsuitable programming.

For the time being, only users viewing Hulu on the web will be able to try out the new profiles feature. Hulu says that it will begin to roll out profiles on “the most popular Hulu devices” over the course of the next few weeks.

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Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

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