Hulu Updates 'Hulu Plus' iOS App, Lowers Subscription Pricing

[karlwig]

Advertisements are a necessity. Do any of you know how much it costs to produce broadcast content? I do I work in that industry. So many of you think its greed greed greed but its not. More things happen behind the scenes to secure rights to programing than you would think.

TV man eh? Perhaps you can answer why Netflix and Hulu are US (+Canadian) only? I know it's a licensing issue, but I fail to see how neither the streaming services, the film studios or TV networks could possibly lose any money on that.

Seems so stupid, why not get more people to pay for it? It's a huge market out there, and Europeans (for example) are much less likely to pay for these American TV shows by other means, than Americans themselves, no?

I'd pay full price for Netflix in a heartbeat. No other sales would suffer because of this, except, perhaps I would buy less DVD's (then again, this issue must exist for US costomers too?)

 

[supremedesigner]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

I think hulu should set another pricing plan especially for deaf and hard of hearing. There's only 20% shows that have CC. So hulu should charge maybe $.99/mo with CC shows instead of all 100% shows. I think that'll work. Then hopefully the movie/tv providers will realize that they need to include the CC in order to get my money.

To deaf and hard of hearing: please spread this message. Thanks!

 

[Chupa Chupa]

This argument keeps coming up and its just totally non-sensicle to me. How can someone be willing to pay $60-100 a month for cable TV, which has FAR more ads than Hulu Plus, and then complain that $8 a month is too much? Am I missing something here? The total ad time in Hulu is probably 1/4 as much as the same program via cable or OTA, and the cost you are paying for the content is at least 10x.

A combination of OTA, Hulu Plus, and Netflix makes a pretty inexpensive and compelling case to cut the cable cord.

You are correct, it is nonsense. Of the 100s of channels I get I could whittle down the ones I actually watch to about 10 (not including the OTA networks). I have the smallest package DTV offers and I still pay $60 a month. Outrageous!

But, realistically, of the "must have" cable/sat-only channels I watch, I'd pay $5 a month for them. 10 channels x $5 is wala... $50 a month. Add in the $10 fee DTV embeds for local channels and it's exactly what I'm paying now, except I have fewer channels to potentially watch. (I do on occasion tune in to a channel not normally on my radar).

Back to $8 Hulu. Unlike my cable channels it's completely portable. I can watch it on my iPad, iPhone, TV via PS3. Sure it has commercials, but far, far less than any basic cable channel -- three 30 sec spots in the course of an hour -- why are people going ape over that? Last I checked HBO was $12/mo. The only reason I even get it is to watch Entourage, Curb, Boardwalk. Far less of a value to me than Hulu Plus. It's why I cancel HBO the moment those shows go dark for the season.

 

[Cambrown99]

Drop the price by another $7.99 and I might use Hulu.

 

[pmz]

Hmm. I already pay monthly for Netflix, and Verizon Fios. I hardly even watch TV, I just have it so I can catch a few particular programs when I have time.

No room in my life for another $7.99 subscription to the same content.

Make it $2.99 a month, and then we'll talk.

 

[atomwork]

So you don't have Cable or Satellite TV?

That's a bad comparison. I record all my shows on cable so I can fast forward these annoying commercials. Most of the time I watch HBO/STARS/SHOWTIME etc..

Why in the hell do you want to pay for commercials that you cannot fast forward.

 

[840quadra]

This argument keeps coming up and its just totally non-sensicle to me. How can someone be willing to pay $60-100 a month for cable TV, which has FAR more ads than Hulu Plus, and then complain that $8 a month is too much? Am I missing something here? The total ad time in Hulu is probably 1/4 as much as the same program via cable or OTA, and the cost you are paying for the content is at least 10x.

Please see my reply to someone else bringing up this argument to me.

Not sure. Never paid for cable so I have no idea. I was simply just giving my opinion on the pricing, nothing more.

I am not a cable customer, haven't ever been. I either watch over the air, rent, or buy my content through other means. And no I don't Torrent or pirate, I am fine paying for content. I simply refuse to pay for content I don't want. I like maybe 5 channels on cable (I do have friends with satellite, and or cable ), and can't justify paying for the other crap content that I am forced to subscribe to. If cable channels were available in BTO packages (no reason why they can't be in this digital age), then I would be a subscriber.

nope the ads are still there. I would much rather pay the original $9.99 and say 2 ads off the top and one break in the middle or even all the ads at the top. or even pay more like $14.99 and no ads at all.

Thanks for the info. Sounds like it is still not for me. Subsidized or not, I refuse to accept ads in something I pay for. For the very few shows I watch per month, I am still ahead renting on iTunes, or watching them online for free via my HTPC.

 

[OneMike]

If I pay that much per month, there better not be any ads on it. It should be like cable TV. I mean, when I pay for cable, there are zero ads on it...right? Else, we can opt out of paying for our cable and just have ad-based, "free" cable. I mean, it would be totally silly to pay 40-60 bucks a month AND get ads on top of that. Just silly.

Which is why paying $7.99 a month AND getting ads is insane. That dog won't hunt, monsignor.

I consider commercials ads so I'd disagree, and we pay a lot more for cable than $7.99.

 

[aduteau]

My god, Just being able to watch what I want to watch and WHEN I want to watch is a seller point for me.

If I want to watch only Entourage for a night, I can ... With traditional Cable I cant !

If I have something else to do, I don't have to set a DVR and record anything, I get it the other day, ( and whats the big deal if the show gets put online one day after being aired .... OMG get a life if you really have to watch everything as it gets out on TV, do something else of your time for one night)!

No longer being slave of the time spots when my favorite TV shows get to play.

No Hassle of storage space on HDD or risk of loosing everything if one of my HDD fails.

For me ... paying 7.99$ for Hulu and 7.99 for Netflix a month is a winner combo, this is nothing compared to 60$ a month for traditional TV.

I see this as the start of TV moving to the Web slowing ... but ending up being the new way we watch TV in the long run get used to it.

 

[Rootus]

The economics angle is fascinating. How many people complaining about $7.99/month pay half that [or more] every day on their cup of coffee? Or spend more than $7.99 every day on lunch. And these are the same people who will pony up a 50% premium or more just to get a machine that runs OSX. LOL.

I'll probably not get Hulu Plus, but that has more to do with the fact that I don't watch TV than anything else. But if I watched TV, I'd have no problem with spending $7.99 a month. Takes less than 10 minutes to earn that. Whoop-e-ding.

 

[aduteau]

The economics angle is fascinating. How many people complaining about $7.99/month pay half that [or more] every day on their cup of coffee? Or spend more than $7.99 every day on lunch. And these are the same people who will pony up a 50% premium or more just to get a machine that runs OSX. LOL.

I'll probably not get Hulu Plus, but that has more to do with the fact that I don't watch TV than anything else. But if I watched TV, I'd have no problem with spending $7.99 a month. Takes less than 10 minutes to earn that. Whoop-e-ding.

+1
Finally someone else who thinks 7.99$ is dirt cheap !

 

[johnnymg]

I'm curious about the ads. Can someone explain the methodology?

thanks
JohnG

 

[ghostlyorb]

My parents took over my netflix account.. so instead of paying for that, I have Hulu Plus now! I really like it and it's fast on my iPhone. I have only watched one show and the commercials for 20-30 secs each. On the DVR for tv.. I have to hit the 30sec skip button about 6 times until the show is actually back on. So I can't complain.

The lower price is what made me get it.

 

[NinjaHERO]

I don't think the price point was the issue. How about the fact that Hulu Plus has about 80 shows available while Hulu free has over 800. I pay for less? How about adding it all Hulu.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

well people always are saying their cable bills are $100 etc. when in reality, $50 of that is the INTERNET. they act like they are getting by insanely cheap, but they don't list how much their internet bill is. i pay $92 w/tax for digital cable through time warner, includes internet. half of that is internet....so not sure why people are so crazy about dumping cable when it's only half of that $92.

My Cable bill is $99 a month that includes...

1.) 16Mbps Cable Internet
2.) Rented Cable Modem
3.) HD DVR
4.) The HD Channel Package
5.) All the free On-Demand Content

Not bad for $100 bucks. The problem is a lot of people here complain about everything that has an associated cost with it except Apple products. My $99 a month cable bill makes more sense than the $3600 I spent on my laptop (company expense luckily!)

+1
Finally someone else who thinks 7.99$ is dirt cheap !

Because Hulu is an iTunes competitor so automatically they are crap and expensive and a greedy company.

 

[Ugg]

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I think hulu should set another pricing plan especially for deaf and hard of hearing. There's only 20% shows that have CC. So hulu should charge maybe $.99/mo with CC shows instead of all 100% shows. I think that'll work. Then hopefully the movie/tv providers will realize that they need to include the CC in order to get my money.

To deaf and hard of hearing: please spread this message. Thanks!

I agree. I don't know why we should pay full price and get only 20%.

Netflix keeps saying that they will have CC for movies sometime this year and I hope they will follow through with their promise. Digitalization, you would think, would result in better forms of CC but so far it has failed almost across the board.

 

[gsmumbo]

Dear God I keep hearing the same talking points over and over. Those of you talking about how Hulu Free has more content, etc. have you even tried Hulu Plus or are you just reading websites that rant about content and saying "oh, I'll avoid Hulu Plus until they fix that!"?

Hulu Plus has much more content, it's just all in how you look at it. If you go to Hulu Free, yes it has way more shows than Hulu Plus but look for episode 4 in Law and Order SVU season 3. You can't find it. While it has all these different shows you only get select episodes from them. Hulu Plus has entire back catalogs for most shows, entire seasons for others and the content is constantly growing. It's like going to a place that has a lot of different types of food but you only get small little samples. I'd much rather go to a real restraunt and get a full meal.

Not to mention, and this is something that people are missing too, you can access Hulu Plus on the computer. So when you go to the free Hulu like a lot of you claim you do, not only do you get the select shows from all these series but you get everything that Hulu Plus offers in addition to it. You act like signing up for Hulu Plus means you all of a sudden can only watch the shows that are on Plus, but the fact is on the devices where you couldn't access anything at all before you can now get everything on Plus. For the devices where you could get Hulu before you stilll can, in addition to all the catalogs available in Hulu Plus.

As for the Netflix comparison, Netflix doesn't have nearly as much content when it comes to TV. Netflix is for movies, and while it offers TV content it's not the same as Hulu Plus. Just like I will admit Hulu Plus doesn't offer jack in terms of movies. I had both subscriptions for a while. But every time I'd look for a show on Netflix it either wasn't there or it would require that I order the disc, wait for it to come in, watch it, then send it back. When it comes to movies that's fine but TV is a more on demand kind of thing, which is where Hulu Plus comes in.

As for price, people complained originally about the $9.99 price and said if it came down a little they would jump on it. Now it came down to $7.99 and people are saying the same thing. Face it, no matter how cheap it becomes everone will keep reusing the same tired talking points to justify not getting it. Hulu Plus is a great service and I use it all the time. Am I annoyed that my favorite show Chuck isn't on it? Yeah. But as much content as they keep adding reguarly I don't see that lasting for long. Of course I could always go to hulu.com on my computer to see Chuck but wait... it's only a select few episodes. Nothing gained nothing lost with Hulu Plus on that end(It's not on Netflix either btw).

Oh, one more thing - ads. That is not Hulus fault, it is the content providers. I know this because there were ads in programs I would watch such as Glee, but one day I was watching Law and Order SVU and noticed there were no ads at all. Then I realized that there are quite a few shows on Hulu Plus that didn't have any ads. It all boils down to the contract Hulu Plus has with the content providers, contracts which as Hulu has stated quite often they are still working on improving.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

I'm curious about the ads. Can someone explain the methodology?

thanks
JohnG

That last Hulu plus show I watched had 3 ads in between the show. 2 ads were 30 seconds the other was 15.

 

[ashVID]

Ignorance is a funny thing. People curse hulu but it's the producers, actors and writers that are forcing them to charge. Hulu likely won't make anything from the $7.99 and, it could very likely be a loss leader. Most the content is not licensed for delivery to TV or mobile and they have to renegotiate with all the labor unions, etc. to make that happen.

The people who complain about paying $7.99 a month have no grounds really. I mean, look at it relatively. One concert is $50+, one Bluray is $20+, one movie ticket is $10+ and the universe of hulu, delivered to any device you like, is $7.99 a month. Add Netflix and for less than the price of a single DVD and pretty close to the price of a movie ticket, you have most the universe of film and television at your fingertips, delivered thru space to your hammock in the woods if you so choose. You'll be hard pressed to get out of a fast food joint for less than $7.99, I could go on and on.

Ads pay for shows, period. Don't like that, buy(or rent) the ad free version on iTunes. In the case of hulu, it's the most well integrated video ad experience that exists, a few minutes for every hour (as opposed to the 16 minutes per hour on most channels).

There is nothing to complain about here, you either see the value and have the desire... or you don't... The frivolous comments about price are as silly as me wandering over the the Domino's pizza forum and saying that I'll be interested in the pizza when it's free.






ash =o)

 

[dexthageek]

Still to high

Well, this at least shows that Hulu is trying.
However, I still want to see a higher availability of shows and a price point around $4.99.

As soon as I pick up a TV for the bedroom, we are dropping TiVO (very sad I love Tivo) because at $14 I just don't think it is worth the price anymore.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Well, this at least shows that Hulu is trying.

No doubt, and I think that statement right there addresses a lot of what the Hulu bashers are saying.

Look, the fact of the matter is that these streaming services are a shifting target right now. The streaming market is developing, not mature. The way Hulu/Netflix/Vudu etc. function today in no way indicates that that's how they will function a year or even six months from now. We're in a shakedown period where companies are trying various strategies, features and content arrangements. Hulu will improve. Netflix will improve. What remains to be seen is which one (or some other service) becomes the leader. At the moment it appears to me that Netflix is in front.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Well, this at least shows that Hulu is trying.
However, I still want to see a higher availability of shows and a price point around $4.99.

As soon as I pick up a TV for the bedroom, we are dropping TiVO (very sad I love Tivo) because at $14 I just don't think it is worth the price anymore.

Hard to have your cake and it it too. Most of the Hulu shows are ones that Hulu's owners (Fox, ABC, NBC) have rights too. That is the current season shows, and the first few seasons of most of the older stuff. If you want a deeper catalog someone has to pay for it and Hulu isn't a charitable org. $4.99 won't get the job done there unless they really pepper the shows up with ads closer to the network/cable standard (15 min per hour).

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Hard to have your cake and it it too. Most of the Hulu shows are ones that Hulu's owners (Fox, ABC, NBC) have rights too.

It's not that cut and dry though. Fox may have rights to something but those rights may only go so far. Most of the time in order to provide digital rebroadcast or reproduction renegotiations need to take place which in turn forces companies like Hulu to charge more than what a lot of us are comfortable with.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Hard to have your cake and it it too. Most of the Hulu shows are ones that Hulu's owners (Fox, ABC, NBC) have rights too. That is the current season shows, and the first few seasons of most of the older stuff. If you want a deeper catalog someone has to pay for it and Hulu isn't a charitable org. $4.99 won't get the job done there unless they really pepper the shows up with ads closer to the network/cable standard (15 min per hour).

And yet Netflix manages to have hundreds of full seasons of shows including pretty recent stuff like Lost and they charge $10 per month...

 

[njpodder]

Simple math as far as I am concerned. Argue with me all you want, but much like you refuse to pay for ads, I refuse to give a $%#&

Previous plan:
Digital Cable TV - $69.99 (digital basic with no premium channels added)
Internet bundle discounted price - $44.99
HD add-on fee - $7.99 (This was to watch same channels I already had in HD)
DVR add-on - $8.99 (per room!)
Total - $131.96 for one room, and DVR big enough to record about 10 episodes at a time

Current plan:
Non-discounted internet - $49.99
Hulu Plus stream from PS3, phone, iPad, or computers - $7.99
Netflix w/ Blu-Ray add-on - $11.99 (For those things I can't see on Hulu)
Total - $69.97
This leaves me $61.99 / Month to save and/or spend on booze to watch football at the neighbors house. Speaking of live sports, I get those broadcast channel ones in HD for free with my $15 antenna attached to the TV.

You MORONS that say "I won't pay for ads" are the same people who would rather torrent all your shows or watch them elsewhere illegally (which I am not saying I have anything against), or are just too D-U-M-B to realize that a 1 hour TV show on cable comes with 15 minutes of ads for a much higher price than my 90 seconds on Hulu Plus for the price of one sandwich on my lunch break. Oh, and I don't care about fast forwarding through a 30 second ad, but I can understnad why you want to through a 3 minute commercial break. LOL, go ahead and argue with me. Prove my point about your state of mind.