Hulu Plus

Few types of content bring in the 13-24 male demographic quite as consistently as professional wrestling, and in the world of pro wrestling, the WWE is the brand that rules the ring. Generations of young American males have grown out of professional wrestling, unaware that the "sport" continued with a new audience. The WWE is hoping to bring some of that perennial cachet online by signing an exclusive deal with Hulu to bring WWE programming to Hulu Plus the day after it airs on various cable networks. The WWE has made archive material available through Hulu for a while, but this deal marks a major push for the WWE into digital distribution. It's also reasonable to assume Hulu is looking forward to being a part of that push, particularly given the large video game console cross-over audience the company can look forward to tapping into.

Beginning today, subscribers of Hulu's paid service will be able to watch WWE's roster of shows that currently includes WWE's "Monday Night Raw," "Friday Night SmackDown," "WWE NXT," "WWE Superstars," "WWE Main Event" and "WWE en Espanol." Deal could eventually include "WWE Saturday Morning Slam," which recently began airing on the CW's new Vortexx-branded kids programming block, produced by Saban Brands.

Variety

Most conversations regarding cord cutters tend to focus on the impact of cable company revenues as subscribers jump ship for the considerably less expensive option of streaming media services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. Not everyone sees this trend continuing, in large part because of rises in streaming media subscription rates. The Convergence Consulting Group has issued a report suggesting that rising licensing costs will force companies like Netflix and Hulu to raise their rates, negatively impacting subscriber growth. The research firm points to turmoil that Netflix experienced last year as evidence of the kind of backlash that streaming media services will face in the future. Of course, one point that Convergence Consulting Group may not be taking into consideration is that cable television package rates have not held steady in recent years and are not likely to in the future either. Will the cost of Netflix and Hulu Plus go up faster than the cost of cable television?

In 2011, only 112,000 U.S. citizens signed up for cable TV packages. This is a significant drop from 272,000 who signed up in 2010.
However, Convergence Consulting Group doesn't see this trend lasting. In fact, it expects a decrease in the number of customers signing up for internet streaming services throughout 2012 and 2013 because of rising licensing costs.

DailyTech

It would seem that Hulu is ready to celebrate the New Year by going shopping. In a recent blog post, Jason Kilar, Hulu's CEO, gave an update on the status of the company and how they performed over the last year. I personally have never seen the value proposition in paying for a media streaming service that includes commercials, but obviously some folks disagree given that Hulu has grown Hulu Plus to 1.5 million paid subscribers. That may not be the most impressive number with Netflix boasting 20 million subscribers, but it means that Hulu Plus wrapped up 2011 with about 5 times as many subscribers as the service had at the end of 2010.

The company credits the subscriber growth to their heavy investment in developing apps for mobile devices, consoles, and other devices. They also credit their heavy investment in content acquisition over the last year, the lion's share of which was dedicated to Hulu Plus. The end result of a growing subscriber base and better than expected ad revenue has been a 60% growth in revenue year over year to $420 million, which brings us back to the shopping. To ensure that Hulu and Hulu Plus continues to grow this year, Hulu will be devoting $500M to securing content over the next year. Any thoughts on what Hulu should try to add first?

 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 5 of the 6 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 Blog 

Rumors have swirled since early summer that Hulu was up for sale, but that has not stopped the company from pushing ahead with it business plans and seeking out new content. Hulu's CEO, Jason Kilar, recently posted an update on the company's Q3 performance on the Hulu Blog in which he highlighted Hulu's newest major content partner, Univision, which he expects will help Hulu grow its influence with the U.S.'s increasingly influential Hispanic population.

Kilar also highlighted the growth of Hulu Plus, the company's premium subscription service. According to Kilar, Hulu Plus is now available on 120 million devices and has garnered over a million subscribers, which by Hulu's calculations, makes Hulu Plus the fastest ramping video subscription service. All of this in less than a year since exiting the invite-only phase for Hulu Plus and right on the heels of launching in Japan. As a result of all this momentum, Kilar expects Hulu Plus to represent more than half of the company's revenue within 12 months.

The Hulu Plus revenue target comes with a caveat: Kilar didn’t actually say that more than half of the company’s revenue will be based on subscription fees, because Hulu Plus also shows ads. However, the emphasis on Hulu Plus and subscription revenue is definitely noteworthy, particularly because Kilar has in the past wasted no opportunity to talk about the importance of advertising revenue for his company.

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