Hulu

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Caroline Soss

By Caroline Soss

Photo courtesy of: [1] www.crunchbase.com

ADDRESS

12312 West Olympic Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90064 [2]

CONTACT

Phone (310) 570-4700
Website www.hulu.com
Twitter @hulu

PROFILE

Hulu is an over-the-top video service provider streaming on-demand programming from NBC, ABC, A&E, AMC, FOX, The CW, MTV and more.

Hulu offers advertisement-supported free programming with limited commercial interruption on its website Hulu.com. Regular advertisers include Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s, Microsoft, GEICO and Target.

Photo courtesy of: [4] www.vulture.com

For a monthly fee of $7.99, Hulu Plus subscribers can stream unlimited premium and exclusive content from any Hulu+ enabled device. These devices include smart televisions, game consoles, smartphones/tablets and media players like Apple TV and Roku [3].

Hulu delivers over 70,400 hours of video from 514 different content partners [5]. Hulu streams popular TV shows such as FAMILY GUY, SCANDAL, THE VOICE, PARKS AND RECREATION, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART [6] and more than 800 films from The Criterion Collection [7].

Photo courtesy of: [6] www.hulu.com

Hulu also produces its own original content like DEADBEAT, EAST LOS HIGH, THE AWESOMES and THE HOTWIVES OF ORLANDO [8].

Watch Hulu’s promo for their 2014 Originals here. Video courtesy of: [9] www.hulu.com.

Hulu.com was launched in 2008 as a joint venture between Comcast’s NBCUniversal and News Corporation [10]. Today, NBCUniversal, The Walt Disney Company’s Disney-ABC Television Group and 21st Century Fox’s Fox Broadcasting Company together own Hulu’s online subscription service [11].

As of February 2014, Hulu reported more than five million Hulu+ subscribers and thirty million monthly free service users [12] with over four billion videos streamed in 2013 [13].

KEY EXECUTIVES

CEO Mike Hopkins, photo courtesy of: [14] www.engadget.com

Last October, Hulu replaced its acting CEO with Mike Hopkins, former President of Distribution at Fox for five years [14]. Within weeks of joining the company, Hopkins hired Disney’s Elaine Paul as CFO [11]. In February 2014, Hopkins hired NBC’s Peter Naylor as SVP of Advertising Sales [13] and Sony’s Tiam Lim as Chief Technology Officer [12]. In March 2014, Disney’s Tim Connolly joined the company as Head of Distribution [15]. In April 2014, Warner Bros.’ Craig Erwich was hired as Hulu’s SVP and Head of Content [16].

FINANCIALS

Hulu is a privately held company and not required to publicly release its financial information. However, CEO Mike Hopkins reported Hulu earning one billion dollars in annual revenue at the end of last year [17]. In 2013, Hulu’s owners (Comcast, Disney and 21st Century Fox) also dropped offers to sell Hulu and instead invested $750 million dollars into the company [11].

Photo courtesy of: [18] www.techcrunch.com

FOCUS IN THE U.S.

In February 2014, Hulu sold its Japanese subsidiary to Tokyo-based Nippon Television Network Corporation. Since 2011, Hulu had streamed 13,000+ videos from fifty different American and European content providers to Japan. While Hulu will continue to make its content and brand available for use by Nippon TV as well as provide infrastructure service to the Japanese company, Hulu will focus on the U.S. rather than internationally [19].

MULTI-PLATFORM

Hulu aims to operate on all types of platforms with 50% of Hulu+ subscribers streaming solely on devices [17].

Photo courtesy of: [21] blog.hulu.com

In April 2014, Amazon.com launched Amazon Fire TV – the company’s new set-top box/game console hybrid positioned to replace media players like Apple TV, Roku and Xbox [20].

Amazon Fire TV streams not only Amazon’s own online video subscription service (Amazon Prime) but also partner on-demand services, including Hulu Plus. Hulu promises the “most enhanced and updated version of the Hulu Plus Living Room experience on Amazon Fire TV” [21]. Further, Amazon added Hulu Plus to the list of services available through voice search by speaking into the Fire TV remote – making Hulu even easier to utilize on this new platform [22].

NEW CONTENT

Hulu is continuing to grow its content library with both current season television and original programming [17].

Photo courtesy of: [23] blog.hulu.com

In April 2014, CEO Mike Hopkins announced Hulu will be exclusively streaming NBCUniversal-produced THE MINDY PROJECT and Golden Globe-winning comedy BROOKLYN NINE-NINE as well as popular series like KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS and TOP CHEF. These high-in-demand hit programs will not be available to competitors Netflix or Amazon Prime, ultimately giving Hulu monopoly control over more content [23].

Hulu also recently acquired the rights to stream ELEMENTARY, the highly rated CBS drama starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu [24], and popular CBS classics like THE BRADY BRUNCH and CHEERS.

Photo courtesy of: [25] blog.hulu.com

Hulu is expanding its library of popular TV shows from past decades [25]. This may be a tactic to keep fairly older viewers, who grew up with this content, entertained; 60% of Hulu subscribers fall between the ages of 18 and 49 years old with an average age of 39 [26].

Photo courtesy of: [26] www.hulu.com/advertising

However, the Nielsen Company will continue excluding broadband-only households, a large total of Hulu Plus viewership, in the ratings for the 2014-2015 television season [27].

ORIGINAL CONTENT

Hulu developed twenty original series in 2013 and plans to launch twenty more this year [28]. Hulu’s original shows THE AWESOMES, BEHIND THE MASK and THE WRONG MANS were among the top ten weekly shows watched on Hulu when they aired in 2013 and were all recently renewed for another season in 2014 [17].

New in 2014, Hulu’s original comedy series DEADBEAT, starring Tyler Labine, is receiving strong reviews from Variety, the New York Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer since its premiere [29]. All ten episodes of the show’s first season were uploaded to Hulu on April 9th, 2014, and only hours later DEADBEAT as dubbed “Hulu’s best show yet” [30].

Photo courtesy of: [29] www.hulu.com

DEADBEAT follows Kevin Pacalioglu (Tyler Labine), a lazy stoner who can see the dead and becomes a freelance medium to pay his rent, helping ghosts move on to the afterlife by competing in eating contests and proposition their ex-girlfriends.

Watch the DEADBEAT series trailer here. Video courtesy of: [31] www.hulu.com.

Critics, however, argue that Hulu being owned by television companies may explain why competitor Netflix is still spending so much more than Hulu on original programming [32].

TV EVERYWHERE

In the past year, Hulu has hired 260 new employees to complete a staff of more than 725 members with plans to continue growing the company [17].

As public interest in more convenient Internet TV Everywhere services grows, analysts predict subscribers may more easily authenticate their pay services through a social media account like Facebook or Twitter – a business tactic that may be in Hulu’s near future [33].

SOURCES

[1] Hulu CrunchBase Profile. CrunchBase. RT: 4/18/14

[2] Company Overview of Hulu, LLC. Bloomberg BusinessWeek. RT: 4/18/14

[3] Hulu – About. Hulu.com. RT: 4/18/14

[4] “Streaming Scorecard: Is Hulu Plus Still the TV King?” Vulture. RT: 4/19/14

[5] “Hulu Names Warner Bros. TV’s Craig Erwich Head of Content.” Variety. RT: 4/18/14

[6] Hulu Popular TV Shows. Hulu.com. RT: 4/20/14

[7] “‘The Great Beauty’ Debuts Only on Hulu Plus.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/19/14

[8] “A New Year With New Hulu Originals.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/19/14

[9] Hulu Promos 2014 Hulu Originals. Hulu.com. RT: 4/20/14

[10] “Hulu Opens to Public.” Hulu.com. RT: 4/18/14

[11] “Hulu Hires Disney’s Elaine Paul as CFO.” Variety. RT: 4/18/14

[12] “A World-Class Builder Joins the Hulu Ranks.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/18/14

[13] “A Big Sales Win – Welcome Peter Naylor.” Blog.hulu.com RT: 4/18/14

[14] “Hulu officially announces its new CEO, former Fox exec Mike Hopkins.” Engadget. RT: 4/18/14

[15] “Hulu Hires Disney’s Tim Connolly as Head of Distribution.” Variety. RT: 4/18/14

[16] “Hulu Original Series Chief Departs Amid New Programming Push.” The Hollywood Reporter. RT: 4/18/14

[17] “A Strong 2013.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/18/14

[18] “The Second Screen Becomes The First Screen: Hulu Says 50% Of Its 5M Subscribers Use Devices Exclusively.” TechCrunch. RT: 4/18/14

[19] “Hulu Says Sayonara, Sells Off Japanese Unit to Nippon TV.” TechCrunch. RT: 4/18/14

[20] “Amazon Fire TV review: the set-top that tries to do everything.” Engadget. RT: 4/19/14

[21] “Hulu Plus on Amazon Fire TV.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/19/14

[22] “Amazon Fire TV’s voice search expands to cover Hulu Plus and Showtime, but not Netflix.” Engadget. RT: 4/19/14

[23] “We’re Flipping Out for NBCU Library Shows Only on Hulu Plus.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/19/14

[24] “Hulu Plus Acquires Subscription Video on Demand Rights for Popular CBS Drama ‘ELEMENTARY.’” Business Wire. RT: 4/19/14

[25] “More CBS Shows Coming to a Hulu Plus Screen Near You.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/19/14

[26] Hulu Advertising. Hulu.com. RT: 4/18/14

[27] “Nielsen Capitulates, Agrees to Withhold Broadband Households from Local Ratings – For Now.” MediaPost. RT: 4/19/14

[28] Hulu Exclusive Series. HuluMovies. RT: 4/20/14

[29] Deadbeat. Hulu.com. RT: 4/20/14

[30] “‘Deadbeat’ Is Hulu’s Best Show Yet.” Flavorwire. RT: 4/19/14

[31] Deadbeat Series Trailer. Hulu.com. RT: 4/21/14

[32] “Netflix has nothing to fear from Hulu’s sad little content expansion.” BGR. RT: 4/20/14

[33] “Hulu’s Original Content Strategy Continues to Progress Steadily.” Adweek. RT: 4/20/14

Hulu

Posted on November 20, 2013 by eamoomey

By Jiayi Jiang

HULU

12312 West Olympic Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90064, United States

www.hulu.com

phone:310-571-4700

About the company

Hulu is an online free video service that offers a selection of hit shows, clips, and movies from over 260 content companies. Hulu Venture was established in March 2007 and is operated independently by a team in the Los Angles office. Hulu videos currently only offer to users in USA,overseas territories and Japan In April 2009, Hulu became a joint venture of NBCUniversal Television Group, Fox Broadcasting Company, and Disney ABC Television Group. In addition to offering free content, Hulu also has a paid version called Hulu Plus, which supports more video content. [1]

Hulu plus service

HULU Plus

Hulu Plus is a paid online service that gives users access to unlimited instant streaming of TV shows, movies, trailers, and exclusive content. Hulu Plus complements the website Hulu by enabling paid users to watch episodes beyond the ones available for free.[2]

Key Person

CEO: Mike Hopkins

[3]Mike Hopkins http://www.thewrap.com//images/2013/10/Screen-shot-2013-10-25-at-2.52.35-PM.png

Mike Hopkins—–CEO

CFO: Elaine Paul

Elaine Paul——CFO

Competitors:

In the online video market, Hulu’s competitors are the other online video service companies— such as Amazon instant, Netflix, and iTunes, which offer their customes the ability to rent DVDs and to view or download streaming videos. Cable TV is another Hulu’s competitor’s.[3]

Financial information:

The company earned $695 million for 2012, which was a 65% jump over 2011. Also, according the previous CEO, Jason Kilar, Hulu plus adding over 3 million users which is double the number of 2011.The main revenue Hulu earned is form the subscription fee and AD sales. Hulu offers different of ad formats to satisfy what company want to deliver to Hulu’s user.[4]

In the news

1. Change of the Executive

Hulu’s leader ship level is tumultuous in 2013. In January, the founder CEO Jason Kilar left the company. From March, the acting CEO Andy took control of all the business in the company. Finally, on October 17th, the EX-head of distribution for FOX, Mile Hopkins, became the new parents of the Hulu. The first decision Mike did after he took the wheel of the position was nominate the new CFO, Elaine Paul, who was the previously head of strategy and business development at Disney.

The refresh of the whole executive team may bring the Hulu new energy to compete with Netflix and Amzon instant. Due to the background of the Mike Hopkins, the Fox Networks distribution chief, the business model of Hulu may change.[5][6]

2.Technology

: Free Video to Mobile devices

On October 23th, Hulu finally bring the free video to mobile. It is a big move for Hulu, after 6 years launched, they finally begin to open the market for mobile industry. However, for now,it just support clips but not full content. Also, the video are only available for mobile browser[7]

: Hulu join PS4

On November 12th, Hulu Plus officially supported for the Sony Playstation 4. For PS4 version, Hulu is trying to increase user experience by adding specific types of content like Hulu Kids, Originals. For the function part, the search engine has been introduced. User can also register account on the console itself. [8]

As mobile devices will take more important role in our life, Streaming video wbesite like Hulu has to get more ways for user to reach the information. Going to mibile is a rigth way for Hulu, but they have to work hard to increase the user experience.

3. Original Series

By far, Hulu has produced more than 25 Hulu original Series. Original Series is a way for Hulu to expand their TV Universe. Beside this, the exclusive shows also helps Hulu to earn large number of subscribers. Hulu is preparing 20 original series next year with the UK based on the splendid job of ‘The Wrong mans’ [9]

: Fugget About It

Fugget About It (October 13)A animated comedy about the misadventure of a mob family that’s forced to move to Canada.

: The strange calls

The strange calls (October 19)

This supernatural comedy about a police officer who has demoted to night watch in a town which strange calls happened every night.

: Behind the mask

Behind the mask:

A story about sports mascots and their lives in and out of Costume.[10]

Mother up!

: The Wrong mans

Mother up! ( November 6 )

An animated comedy Starring Eva Longoria, who plays a former music executive who moves to the suburbs to raise her children.[11]

The wrong mans (November 11)

A cooperated comedy series for the BBC and Hulu. British style comedy illustrated a pair of silly British work together to solve crime. This comedy was regard as the most successful comedy debutin previous eight years.[12]

Through the distribution of different types of original series of Hulu, they are on the way to attracting variety group of audiences. Not only for the western drama, Hulu now working on bring in more international drama. More content Hulu have, more subscriber they will have.

4.New Business strategy

At the developing age of Hulu, their mission was the complementary to the cable. However, After the Mike Hopkins became the CEO, the strategy changed as well.From the Report of Los Angeles Times’ Company Town.They said “The newly installed Hulu executive team is believed to already be pursuing deals with cable operators to offer subscribers access to Hulu as a way to watch current shows online, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.” [13] It is a good news for Hulu if it can successful become the platform to deliver onlince content of cable company. However, the problem is some cable company already offer the online service, so the talk is still in their early age.[14] [15]

Reference:

[1] About the company

[2]Hulu plus service

[3] Hulu’s competitors

[4] Financial information

[5] New CEO-Mike Hopkins

[6]Elaine Paul as CFO

[7] mobile video

[8] Hulu in PS4

[9] Hulu’s new original series

[10] Behind the mask

[11] Mother up