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.
The smart home starts with trendy devices like smart cameras and video doorbells. According to Parks Associates, the US market experienced an increase from 10 percent to 12 percent between 2018 and 20...
“In these distribution partnerships, the service benefits from having a greater content library without incurring production costs,” said Eric Sorensen, who runs the streaming video tracker for resear...
“It’s a challenging time for service providers to make the money work,” said Elizabeth Parks, president of Parks Associates. “It makes sense that there will be a lot of consolidation in the market. We...
Twenty percent of U.S. internet households own a TV antenna, according to research firm Parks Associates’ ATSC 3.0: Impact and Opportunity for Video Services industry report. It also found that 12% mo...
