Hulu to drop free tier in next few weeks, become paid-only streaming service

By Parker Hall August 8, 2016

a e networks hulu live tv streaming service ad free — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Video-streaming service Hulu has announced plans to ditch its ad-supported free streaming tier, an option that led many to pay for the service in the first place, in favor of an all-subscription model, according to Variety. The free tier will be slowly phased out over the next few weeks. Cost of the remaining two tiers will stay the same: $7.99 per month with commercials and $11.99 without.

Those resolute in their refusal to pay for content will have a new Hulu-made option, however, as the company has also announced plans to expand its current deal with Yahoo to create a new ad-supported streaming service called Yahoo View.

The new streaming network will show the five most recent installments of shows from ABC, NBC, and Fox slightly more than a week after their original air dates. That service will differ from Hulu’s ad-free one in that it will be desktop-only — meaning those with Smart TVs and streaming boxes will be left out of the Yahoo View loop. The service is already up and running as of Monday morning.

The business decision to drop ad-based streaming and export it elsewhere is a bold move for Hulu, a company whose free level has allowed millions of users access to thousands of episodes of TV shows for nearly a decade. But going subscription-only did seem somewhat inevitable for the company long-term, given that bigger streaming competitors like Netflix make much higher revenues with a paid-only model. The change of strategy was likely fueled by demands from investors, many of whom are cable providers or content makers.

Part owners in Hulu include Disney, 21st Century Fox, and Comcast, as well as Time Warner, which recently announced plans to purchase 10 percent of the internet company.

“For the past couple years, we’ve been focused on building a subscription service that provides the deepest, most personalized content experience possible to our viewers,” said Hulu senior Vice President Ben Smith in a statement. “As we have continued to enhance that offering with new originals, exclusive acquisitions, and movies, the free service became very limited and no longer aligned with the Hulu experience or content strategy.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…

Cars

Teslas will soon be able to stream Netflix and Hulu, Elon Musk says

tesla wants youtube on touchscreens touchscreen

Soon you might be able to binge-watch your favorite show while in your Tesla -- provided your Tesla is parked.
In a tweet on July 27, Tesla founder Elon Musk announced that the ability to stream Netflix and Hulu through the car’s display is on its way: “Ability to stream YouTube & Netflix when car is stopped coming to your Tesla soon! Has an amazingly immersive, cinematic feel due to the comfy seats & surround sound audio,” says Musk.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1155179932474957825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1155179932474957825&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2019%2F7%2F27%2F8932929%2Ftesla-netflix-youtube-elon-musk-self-driving-in-car-display-watch-streaming-video
At E3 earlier this year Musk teased that the ability to stream YouTube via Tesla’s display was coming, so the fact that Hulu and Netflix will one day be available as well isn’t exactly surprising.
Enabling streaming video on the vehicle's central display will happen through a software update. Currently, the screens do not support HTML5, which is required for the services to work. Presumably, version 10 of the software for Tesla’s screens will add that ability. As we noted when Musk made that initial YouTube announcement, by enabling YouTube there was no reason why Tesla couldn’t enable Netflix and Hulu (and other video services) as well.
Tesla has long offered games and other “Easter eggs” on its display. During Musk’s E3 announcement he revealed that Fallout Shelter would be coming to the vehicles in addition to YouTube. Cuphead, 2048, Missile Command, Asteroids, Lunar Lander, and Centipede are already available in the vehicles.
Requiring the vehicles to be parked in order to stream video begs the question of when exactly Musk sees the display being used as a video player.
Of course, it makes sense not to allow someone to be streaming Stranger Things while they’re cruising down the freeway, even with autopilot engaged, but are consumers really interested in strapping in for movie time while they’re inside a vehicle? In a follow-up tweet, Musk suggested that streaming on the road might one day be a possibility:
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1155180120786608128
Until then, it will be interesting to see how the feature is used. Sure, Teslas have “comfy seats” and “surround-sound audio” as Musk suggests in his tweet, but the display is also positioned in such a way that those in the car viewing a movie might not quite get the “immersive cinematic feel” that you’re after -- at least not as immersive as simply getting out of the car and watching the video on your home television instead.

Audio / Video

Hulu subscribers jump to 28 million after price drop; new Marvel series coming

hulu is now allegedly preventing virtual private network users from using its site feature

Remember when Hulu reacted to Netflix's price increases earlier this year by slashing the cost of its cheapest plan to $6 per month? Well that move appears to have paid off big time, at least in terms of the streaming service's subscriber numbers. Hulu's membership grew 12% since the start of the year, to 28 million, the company reported at the 2019 Digital Content NewFronts in New York, according to Variety.

Not all of those subscribers are paying members -- 1.3 million are on free, promotional plans -- but the company has been able to add paying members at a fast clip: Paid memberships are up 16.5% over the same time period.

Entertainment

Why The Last Ronin could be the best TMNT movie ever made

The Last Ronin wields the weapons of his fallen brothers.

Four decades ago, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird unleashed their independent comic book series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and took the industry by storm. Eastman and Laird’s Mirage Studios pulled off a feat that few other comic book companies in the 1980s were able to match. The success of the comic allowed the TMNT to cross over into an animated series in 1987, which only made the Turtles more popular. Toy lines, action figures, video games, and all manner of merchandise followed before Turtlemania reached its high point in 1990 with the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

In a way, it’s been all downhill from there. The Turtles’ popularity has waxed and waned over the last 40 years, but they’ve never quite recaptured the frenzy of Turtlemania. Even the most recent animated movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, managed to earn only $180.5 million worldwide. Mutant Mayhem received good reviews, but those aren’t the kind of numbers that scream box office hit.