Hulu rev up 60% to $420 million in 2011

MUMBAI: Hulu, the over-the-top (OTT) subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies and webisodes, has announced that it grew the business by 60 per cent from 2010 to approximately $420 million in revenue.

Hulu claims to have exceeded its plan despite the soft ad market in the second half of 2011. Overall, the Hulu ad business grew aggressively and Hulu Plus materially exceeded the plan.

Hulu Plus now has over 1.5 million paying subscribers and this number continues to grow extremely fast. Hulu Plus has reached 1.5 million paid subscribers faster than any video subscription service launch (online or offline) in US history. It is attracting more than 2x the number of subscribers each day when compared to this time last year. The company expects that its subscription services will account for more than half of its overall business later this year.

Last year it expanded the content available to Hulu and Hulu Plus customers. Hulu?s content offering grew approximately 40 per cent vs 2010; Hulu Plus? content offering grew more than 105 per cent.

Hulu Plus offers current season content from five of the six largest US broadcast networks, with shows from The CW and Univision added this past quarter. In 2011, it added series, including ?Grimm?, ?Once Upon a Time?, ?Misfits?, ?Revenge?, ?Terra Nova? and New Girl.

In 2011, Hulu invested heavily in the development of apps that empower users to access Hulu Plus from a wide variety of devices. Hulu Plus is now accessible on leading consumer electronics devices and mobile operating systems with a combined installed base of over 200 million.

Hulu said its ad service continues to lead the online video ad market, with the largest market share of a rapidly expanding market. It has now served over 1,000 brand advertisers.