Elain Brown Tech 06.29.2022 08:Jun AM EDT

#EntertainmentTech 5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Hulu

Hulu is a comprehensive, all-in-one streaming platform founded in 2007. It started as a joint venture with News Corporation and NBC Universal, Providence Equity Partners, and The Walt Disney Company.

Hulu has become part of numerous options in streaming entertainment that provide a wide range of shows. The streaming service provides an ad-free television experience for its audience.

Hulu's 'The Handmaid's Tale'

Hulu won an award for "The Handmaid's Tale." Many people associate Hulu with the dystopian television drama "The Handmaid's Tale," which is based on the novel of the same name written by Margaret Atwood.

Since the show's debut, it has garnered a considerable amount of attention from the press. This is mostly attributable to the show's riveting storyline and well-known cast members, in addition to the show's dramatic and gloomy subject matter.

It bagged an Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. The company then became the first streaming service to win that award.

Hulu's Subscribers

According to Statista, the streaming company revealed that they had 45.6 million paid customers in the second quarter of 2022. This number is an increase over the 41.6 million paid subscribers that were recorded in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.

The streaming service has a few options for subscription. The most basic subscription plan on Hulu costs $ 6.99 per month, and the most expensive is going to cost $75.99 .

The latter option includes both a premium membership, which removes advertisements from the viewing experience for customers, and live TV access. This gives users the ability to watch programming from more than 65 channels, such as CBS, NBC, Food Network, and many more.

The Beginning of Hulu

Hulu is a group venture. It was launched and rolled out with the help of numerous executives and distribution partners.

Jason Kilar, Bruce Campbell, JB Perrette, Beth Comstock, Peter Chernin, and Michael Lang were some of the business executives who participated in the establishment of Hulu in the online streaming industry.

It was also Jason Kilar who served as the CEO of the company, and he remained in that role for a period of six years.

The distribution partners are Yahoo, MSN, MySpace, AOL, NBC Universal, and News Corporation.

Hulu was made available to the general public on March 12, 2008, following an early beta test that took place in October of that same year.

This came one year after Netflix launched its own streaming service. Hulu's catalog consisted of 220 television shows and 148 full-length movies when it first went live.

Hulu's Notable Partnerships

To become the successful company that it is today, Hulu had to make strategic and competitive partnerships to take on other streaming giants. A few notable deals Hulu has signed with content providers include:

In April 2009, Hulu and Disney began their partnership through Disney's acquisition of a 27% stake in the company.

Through its five-year partnership with The CW, Hulu was able to access numerous entertainment properties from different networks through October 2011. However, the deal ended in September 2016 as The CW decided to start its own streaming service.

Hulu also partnered with BBC in September 2013 that made the accessibility of thousands of different programs from 144 shows.

They also had partnerships with CBS in 2017 and Spotify in 2018. The numerous partnerships made by Hulu, paved the way to having a plentiful number of entertainment shows that users can enjoy.

Hulu and Disney

Hulu and Disney's partnership throughout the year has expanded to more than just a 27% acquisition.

According to Fox Business, in December of 2017, Disney made public its intention to acquire 21st Century Fox, which included Fox's thirty percent ownership in Hulu as part of the deal.

Following the successful completion of the sale on March 20, 2019, Disney's controlling position in Hulu increased to sixty percent.

After a year had passed, the WarnerMedia subsidiary AT&T sold its 9.5 percent ownership in Hulu back to the firm for the sum of $1.43 billion.

By the 14th of May in 2019, Comcast had also handed over ownership of Hulu to Disney, but the company continued to hold a 33 percent investment in the company through NBCUniversal.

The Chief Executive Officer of Disney, Bob Iger, said in a statement that the direct integration of Hulu with Disney's studios will make the service even more engaging and provide a greater value for customers.

Randy Freer, the current CEO of Hulu, concurred with the sentiment that having Disney take charge of the service would be beneficial for the company. According to what he mentioned, there will be a big rise in investment in original content.