14 DAY TRIAL // As it gains more media attention, thus attracting more users, the company behind Hulu is also looking at methods to make the service more profitable, and one way would be to introduce more advertisements.
It seems that the idea came from News Corp., one of the major investors in the streaming service and also the ones who own the Fox television network.
In the present, this platform is selling a large part of its advertising inventory, but investors want to sell even more digital advertising.
Television networks do not account for a large share of the ads, and they typically resort to online offerings to promote their traditional TV programs.
When Hulu was initially launched in 2007, the owners did not want to embed too much advertising, fearing they might push away their audience, thus losing their interest.
Nowadays, it appears that users are no longer as reticent as they used to be when it comes to watching the ads integrated within their preferred episodes.
In other words, they are willing to accept and even enjoy these ads as long as they get to watch newly-released episodes and movies.
This is why the company considered bringing Hulu Plus to its users, a monthly subscription service that offers even more content, while retaining part of the ads.
As they themselves note on the website, “Hulu Plus is ad-supported to keep the price low, given the high licensing costs of current season TV episodes.”
Consequently, since users seemed to react positively to the already embedded ads, it makes sense to introduce more advertising and increase revenue.
After all, more profit would lead to more included content, and this is what users are typically willing to pay for.
Currently available in the US only, Hulu will most likely continue to focus on this audience while resorting to other means of becoming more and more profitable.