Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Hulu Adds (Mostly) Ad-Free Subscription Service

Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins chalked up the exceptions to rights held by studios on select series. “They have other commitments that they couldn’t free them up for a complete commercial-free offering,” he said, adding that the service will clearly delineate the exceptions to users before they stream those series.

Other series that will have pre-roll include four ABC series: “How to Get Away with Murder,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Once Upon a Time,” “Agents of SHIELD,” and an NBC series, “Grimm.”

Hulu is making the move in response to subscriber complaints voiced in various forms of consumer research about having to pay yet still watch ads. Earlier this month, a Parks Associates survey found that half of Hulu subscribers have canceled service over the past 12 months, compared to just 9% for Netflix over the same span.

The new subscription option brings Hulu in line with its commercial-free rivals Netflix, which remains several dollars cheaper than Hulu depending on which rate its own subscribers pay, and Amazon Prime, which charges $99 per year for access to its content library in addition to free two-day shipping.

From the article "Hulu Adds (Mostly) Ad-Free Subscription Service" by Andrew Wallenstein. 

Previously In The News

One in 10 smart home device owners report unresolved technical problems

Smart home devices are supposed to make our lives easier, but if they suddenly stop working without warning, they can end up doing just the opposite. According to new research, more than one in 10 peo...

Research: Free trials influence over half of OTT subs

Parks Associates research finds that over 50 per cent of US broadband households that subscribed to an OTT video service within the past year indicate that the service trial played a key role in their...

News, Rumors, and More: Here's Everything We Know about the Apple TV

In keeping with the Washington Post report, Bloomberg believes the tech giant plans to officially announce the new set-top streamer in September, alongside three new iPhone models and a new Apple Watc...

Roku's Lead in the Streaming Device Market Keeps Growing

In the first quarter of 2016, one-third of streaming devices owned in U.S. broadband households were manufactured by Roku. That is a pretty substantial chunk, given the big names making up the competi...