78% of all US consumers were using a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in 2021. That’s an increase of more than 25% in less than five years.
With giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and newcomers like Disney+ (projected to outpace the former by 2026), the competition is extremely fierce. Nevertheless, services like Hulu manage to do extremely well.
How come? Keep reading, our carefully curated Hulu stats will answer all of your burning questions.
Humbling Hulu Facts (Editor’s Choice)
- Hulu has around 100 million viewers.
- Its ads are 200% more effective than those on regular TV.
- Hulu has 43.8 million paying subscribers.
- Disney owns 67% of Hulu. The rest are currently owned by Comcast.
- In Q4 2021, 4 million people were subscribed to Hulu with a Live TV service.
- Hulu had a $4.4 billion revenue in 2020.
- Women make up 52% of all Hulu subscribers.
Facts About Hulu
To really understand Hulu’s success, we’ll have to take you back in time. Several big factors made it stand out, particularly in its beginning. Let’s see which they are.
1. Hulu launched on March 12, 2008.
(Source: Fox Business)
Hulu launched a whole year after one of its biggest competitors—Netflix. It first started as a group venture of six business executives in 2007. After undergoing rounds of beta testing, it officially launched in the beginning of 2008.
At that time, there were 148 movies and 220 TV shows in Hulu’s catalog.
2. Hulu had free content until 2016.
(Source: Variety)
When did Hulu start being a subscription-based service?
It initially had free content, did you know that? In the beginning, Hulu had both free and paid on-demand content. Almost nine years later it transformed entirely to a paid service. It also remains ad-supported, meaning you have to pay an additional fee to escape ads.
3. Hulu brings 43 new video ads each month.
(Source: MuchNeeded)
Do you get easily bored with the string of the exact same TV ads spanning over several months? Hulu’s got your back.
Not only does it let people advertise more easily, it makes sure the ads don’t get too stale. Hulu statistics have successfully proven that this is a winning tactic because…
4. Hulu ads are 200% more effective than those on regular TV.
(Source: DesignLoud)
They are also 24% better at generating purchase intent in viewers.
Among the main factors for its success, Hulu lists the Branded Entertainment Selector (BES). It lets users choose whether to watch a single long ad before the show or multiple short ones after it starts.
Ads are also adjusted according to the viewers’ interests, which majorly increases the chances of people watching and actually responding to the ad.
Hulu Revenue
SVOD services’ high revenues are their key to surviving and thriving in this harsh market. With that much money, they can more easily guarantee the rights to better or at least more popular content.
Let’s see if it’s revenue that keeps Hulu as such a strong player in the market.
5. At the start of 2022, Hulu’s net worth was estimated at around $16 billion.
(Source: Wealthy Persons)
Curiously, this is much less than the reported amount Disney is paying for the final 33% of Hulu.
The streaming giant is definitely doing fine for a service only available in the US. We’ll just have to wait and see how it’ll do after expanding, which, as Hulu stats suggest, is to happen in the near future.
6. Hulu’s 2020 revenue was $4.4 billion.
(Source: Business of Apps)
2020 was undoubtedly one of the best years for Hulu. In comparison, its 2019 revenue was just $3.5 billion.
Before 2020, ad and subscription revenues were usually at similar levels. This time around, the Hulu ad revenue was $1.5 billion and the remaining $2.9 billion came from subscriptions.
7. The United States accounts for 93.5% of Hulu’s traffic.
(Source: ScreenBinge)
The streaming service continues to be exclusive to the US. Thus, them having the highest Hulu revenue by country is nothing but expected.
Hulu can be accessed from other countries with a VPN, though, which in turn comprises the remaining part of its traffic.
8. As of Q3 2021, Hulu has a 13% market share.
(Source: TV Tech)
According to JustWatch Streaming Charts, Netflix is still the reigning streaming service. It’s far ahead of the competition with its astonishing 27% market share.
The Hulu market share isn’t too bad itself. In Q3 2021 was only behind Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+, the latter having a 21% and 14% share, respectively.
HBO Max and AppleTV+ are trailing behind for now but are continuously growing in popularity.
9. Disney controls 67% of Hulu. The others are owned by Comcast.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
Nobody knows the exact Hulu market cap since it’s not a publicly-traded company. The closest piece of info we have is that Comcast will sell its 33% to Disney in 2024 for a whopping $27.5 billion. Only after that will investors know about Hulu’s market capitalization.
10. In Q4 2021, Hulu’s average revenue per subscriber was $12.75 for SVOD only, and $84.89 for SVOD and Live TV combined.
(Source: Statista)
Hulu’s profit has probably increased as its overall revenue per sub is much bigger than before. It has risen 12% since the start of 2021 when it was about $75 on average.
Hulu Demographics
To keep interest and retention rates high, SVOD services need to be attractive to everyone. It’s quite hard of an undertaking to aim to please such a large number of people… that’s why most of the best platforms are extremely hard-working and innovative in their efforts.
11. Hulu had 100 million viewers in 2021.
(Source: Insider Intelligence)
The number of Hulu users has increased by 5.5% since 2020. Note that everybody who’s turned it on at least once is considered a viewer, though.
Streaming services are so popular right now that their viewer counts are continuously on the rise. Fortunately, exactly the same can be said for the number of Hulu subscribers as well.
12. There were 43.8 million paying Hulu subscribers as of Q4 2021.
(Source: Statista)
Hulu subscriber growth apparently went through the roof in 2021. Let’s put things in perspective just so you could get a clear idea of its success.
The number of paying subscribers was 36.6 million in Q4 2020 and 28.5 million at the end of 2019. More than 7 million growth in less than a year!
13. In Q4 2021, 4 million people subscribed to Hulu with Live TV.
(Source: Cord Cutters News)
Live TV streaming services just aren’t that tempting as they are usually far more expensive, requiring big bonus fees.
Still, this Hulu service’s subscriber count was four million subs at the end of 2021, with it potentially doing better than even YouTube TV.
In comparison, Sling TV had 2.44 million in August 2021, and fuboTV a million in November.
14. 52% of Hulu subscribers are female.
(Source: Morning Consult)
Hulu stats show it has some of the most balanced subscriber gender distributions. Both Hulu and Netflix have a 52-48-percent split of female and male subscribers.
Disney+ has the opposite ratio and CBS All Access has a predominantly male audience with 65% of the total count.
15. 37% of Hulu subscribers are millennials.
(Source: Morning Consult)
Pretty balanced distribution once again. Hulu statistics also show that 27% of subscribers belong to Generation X, 19% are baby boomers, and Generation Z comprises 17%.
Not all streaming services have such a healthy balance. For instance, 52% of Discovery+ subscribers are millennials, 26% are Generation X, and 16% are Baby Boomers. Generation Z only makes for a negligible 6%.
16. 33% of survey respondents claimed that Hulu is good for children’s content.
(Source: Statista)
Just like other streaming services, children under 18 aren’t Hulu’s target audience. Still, 33% of survey respondents claimed it’s suitable and good for children as well.
In this regard, Hulu ranks just behind Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime and much better than HBO Now, YouTube Premium, Apple TV+, and Cable TV.
17. The average Hulu subscriber is 31 years old.
(Source: MuchNeeded)
Hulu statistics are a gold mine for demography data. Let’s take viewers’ age, for example.
Most of Hulu’s subscribers in 2022 are pretty young, much younger than your broadcast TV viewers where the average age is 55. That’s a great thing for the platform since this group is most likely to stay subscribed for longer.
18. Hulu began 2021 with a subscriber retention rate of 67%.
(Source: Bloomberg Second Measure)
Hulu stats show that it’s doing much better than YouTube TV and HBO Max, but it still isn’t surpassing Disney+ and Netflix. Disney+ has a staggering 78% subscriber retention rate, Netflix—74%.
What makes this particularly impressive is the fact that these are six-month retention rates.
19. Hulu could have 115.6 million subscribers in 2024.
(Source: Insider Intelligence)
At least that’s what research estimates. It also suggests Netflix is to remain most popular with 182.2 million viewers, followed by Amazon Video with 154.2.
Disney+ will allegedly be the third, though, not Hulu. Hulu viewership could be surpassed by 123.4 million viewers* by Disney+.
*In this case, “viewers” refers to individuals using the service at least once per month.
Wrap Up
Although it’s not the biggest streaming service around, Hulu has a bright future. It not only manages to offer a carefully curated mix appealing to larger audiences but also brings innovative solutions to the market cementing its place as the one to watch.
As is also suggested by all the Hulu stats we’ve just shared with you, it’s definitely here to stay.
Sources
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