Hulu Plus, the online video subscription service owned by ABC, Fox and NBC, had 1.5 million paying subscribers at the end of 2011.
This is “faster than any video subscription service launch (online or offline) in US history,” writes Jason KIlar, CEO of Hulu, in his personal blog.
The company said its business grew 60% from 2010 to approximately $420 million (€329.3 million) in revenue. Hulu Plus has two revenue streams, subscriptions and advertising income. Since its launch, the portal has served more than 1,000 brands.
Kilar is very upbeat about the service’s content offer: “In 2011, we dramatically expanded the content available to Hulu and Hulu Plus customers. Hulu’s content offering grew approximately 40% vs 2010; Hulu Plus’ content offering grew more than 105%.
“Hulu Plus is the only online video subscription service that offers current season content from five of the six largest U.S. broadcast networks, with shows from The CW and Univision added this past quarter. In 2011, we added a long roster of great current series, including Grimm, Once Upon a Time, Misfits, Revenge, Terra Nova, Up All Night, New Girl, Una Familia Con Suerte, The Secret Circle, Hart of Dixie, Ringer, Community and many more.”
Hulu Plus is now accessible on a growing number of consumer electronics devices and mobile operating systems with a combined installed base of over 200 million. Some of the new devices Hulu developed custom applications for include: Microsoft Xbox 360, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, Barnes and Noble’s Nook Tablet, select Android smartphones, LG, Panasonic and Vizio TVs and Blu-ray players.
