IP&TV WORLD FORUM – LONDON. Hulu remains very interested in expanding outside the US to markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America. However, its biggest challenge to doing so, according to senior VP international Johannes Larcher, is access to content rather than technology.
Speaking a keynote session entitled Connected TV: Challenging business models for the TV environment?, Larcher outlined in some details how far Hulu has come since its launch in 2007.
Starting with only two content partners and 10 ad clients, it now has 30 million users, 860 million content streams and 1.1 billion ad streams. Its content partners and ad clients now number over 250 and 400 respectively, while its revenues of $260 million (€182.9 million), of which 95% were derived from advertising and the remainder from subscriptions, in 2010 are projected to reach over $450 million this year.
Hulu Plus, the premium service launched by the company in November 2010 is meanwhile expected to have 1 million paid subscribers by the end of this year.
Larcher said that on launch Hulu was aware of the problems it might face in expanding beyond the US, adding that it would only be introduced in other markets if the product is right.
He also said that Hulu is currently exploring several international opportunities.
