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Time Warner Buys 10 Percent Stake in Hulu to Help Bolster Live-Streaming Service
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The paid Hulu service was never ad-free before they introduced the current commercial-free plan in late 2015.
Only a few selected shows (not entire networks) show one ad before and after (but not during) the show. You can see them here: https://help.hulu.com/articles/52427902#list
This seems good... Always ready for more content on Hulu...
Just hope they'll get CBS in so i can watch Big Bang Theory.
Paid subscription of hulu is good, but i find it a waste of money just get *rid* of ads... U still gets ads at the beginning of shows.
Limited commercial is good,,, there is not that many ads... there is more than double that on FTA... so I consider that good. Plus, u only have shows on the "ad free" version Hulu decides..
Just hope they'll get CBS in so i can watch Big Bang Theory.
Paid subscription of hulu is good, but i find it a waste of money just get *rid* of ads... U still gets ads at the beginning of shows.
Limited commercial is good,,, there is not that many ads... there is more than double that on FTA... so I consider that good. Plus, u only have shows on the "ad free" version Hulu decides..
I don't really see how the advertising is shady. As you pointed out, they make it quite clear that ABC's shows are not commercial free throughout the time that the user interacts with Hulu.
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The ad-free tier includes every show except a select few from ABC (Disney). That's not Hulu deciding, that's them not able to spend the money required for ad-free licensing.
That said, CBS needs to stop acting all high and mighty. Yes, it's the most popular basic cable channel, but it isn't HBO
It is very possible my memory is not serving me well about the second tier having commercials or not some years ago but I DO recall them adding more commercials to Hulu Plus before the "commercial free" tier was introduced.
As for the link, yeah, I have that in my original post pointing out that the "commercial free" tier is not truly commercial free. Though it is miles better than the second tier. I wrote out that I couldn't remember which shows before adding the link and got too lazy to update my post accordingly.
I used to hate Hulu - seeing commercials, even if you paid. But I resubscribed the moment they added a commercial-free tier, and now we watch more Hulu than Netflix... especially since Netflix is moving away from third-party offerings (which is what we signed up for in the first place) and towards its own mediocre self-produced stuff.
We're looking at getting rid of one of our streaming subscriptions - but it ain't Hulu, it's Netflix. If you'd told me that a few years ago, I'd have laughed in your face.
We're looking at getting rid of one of our streaming subscriptions - but it ain't Hulu, it's Netflix. If you'd told me that a few years ago, I'd have laughed in your face.
There seems to be an immensely strong tendency on this forum to extrapolate from "there is something I don't like" to "everything will be horrible soon" often while claiming some variation of "slippery slope" as proof positive of this. It is often - not always, but often - overreacting.
Your dire warning of coming commercials is a case in point. You list Hulu's exact text on this, which includes a list of seven shows currently affected. Seven, out of hundreds of shows that they offer. And it isn't the most recent seven shows that they added (which might indicate a strong trend in this direction for the future). For what it's worth, I've experienced these commercials, watching Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this past season. Hulu apologizes on-screen for the commercial, then a single 30-ish second non-screaming commercial plays, then the show in its entirety (then a second commercial afterwards, but who is watching then?). Nothing breaks in to interrupt the mood/drama/context of the show, during the show (that bit is one of the things I like best about Hulu's whole service).
Entertainment industry contracts and their negotiation can be enormously complicated - byzantine would be an apt description (I have some experience with this, I wrote payroll and accounting software for the entertainment industry for many years). And many contracts have already been signed (between the studio and the production company, say) long before Hulu comes into the picture (perhaps an actor has negotiated for a percentage of first-run ad revenue and a guarantee that there will be ad revenue, one of many possibilities). So some shows Hulu simply can't get without some strings attached. The alternative would be to not show them at all. I'm pleased with how Hulu has handled it, with the absolute minimum impact on their viewers. Would I prefer absolutely no commercials? Sure. Do I mind? No. Do I expect this will expand to every show? Absolutely not.
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I had Hulu for couple of months. It was worthless. For $8 a month, you get to see only last 4 or 5 episodes of the limited selections of shows they have. You can't even watch the whole season. And, the episodes have commercials in it. The only good thing about Hulu was the experience to disconnect the service.
I just don't like that they use the words "completely commercial free" numerous times but only if you go digging or use their service you find it isn't true.
I can't shake from my head that it feels similar to the cell networks that offered "unlimited data" but only after you start using the service do you find out it isn't truly what they meant.
I do understand that the commercials added in this commercial free tier are because of the networks demanding them on the select shows. It is not Hulu's fault on that end. Though they shouldn't be luring people into a commercial free tier that costs more and advertising as such when it isn't true.
Derp
Betrayed by my aging memory again. /cancels Luminosity subscription due to lack of efficacy
I think the previous poster was referring to churn, which has increased. Also, their growth is being fueled by expansion into other countries - their growth has stalled in the US.
Disagree with this...
I like Hulu, the only grip i have is license prohibit showing *all* seasons,, only limited shows,,, and this doesn't get any better with the paid subscription, which i could also ague, if u pay more, u should get more than just no ads.
Netflix always has deals with the same shows on Hulu, but the difference is Netflix has more seasons in allot of cases, and not reduced to the last season only. and the rest are just one minute clips
That's why i pick Netflix over Hulu,, but Hulu is still a good backup, and more content is always good
Except you don't have to go digging for it. They make it very clear when you sign up, they make it very clear when you browse for shows, and they make it very clear when you watch one of those 7 shows. They go out of their way to highlight those seven exceptions.
And this isn't like cell networks. Unlimited data does mean unlimited data. None of them said unlimited data at a particular speed, first off, and those who changed definitions did so after the fact. Nothing similar has occurred here.
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So get both? They're in the same space, but they aren't really competitors. They specialize in different areas of that shared space.
To be fair, they do have entire back seasons of many shows.
If you don't want to watch current shows, that's fine. But many shows (such as e.g. political comedy like Comedy Central's Daily Show) lose their appeal if you watch them a year later because they are about current events.
Notice how that graph ends in 2015
Yeah, interesting that it's not the latest numbers. Kinda post a recent one if you're serious.
They may now, I haven't been with the service since shortly after they offered the third tier. There sure wasn't any warning at first for me when I upgraded to the tier nor when I started watching a show with a commercial. This was 1-2 days into the tier being offered. I left the same day I upgraded feeling dupped that there was a commercial on this tier. From what you're saying, among others, I guess they've updated to make sure people are more aware. Which does make me happy to hear. Maybe I'll go back to Hulu in the near future to check out what has changed.
I expect what you'll find is that they say "watch hundreds of shows completely commercial free", which is entirely true (they do have hundreds of shows that play without any commercials). You've extrapolated from that to "the entire service is completely commercial free". I don't think their lawyers would let them say that.
In any case, the service has a lengthy trial period, folks can try it out for free and see if it meets their needs/desires. I actually did a trial, years ago, and was unimpressed - at the time it was missing too many key things I wanted. That led me to ignore them for a long time. Several months ago, when I was looking to "cut the cord", I tried them again, and was quite impressed. Now cheerfully paying them $12 (?) a month, instead paying many times that to the cable company.
Yes, there is a slightly more expensive tier that is commercial free, with some minor exceptions. Approximately 7 shows still have one commercial before and after the show, but not during.
In addition, that graph ends nearly a year ago. It doesn't cover their recent losses due to price increases.
So they have been unable to obtain the commercial-free rights to 7 shows. However, there are still no commercials during these shows, so there is no interruption. It's certainly less than an absolute commercial-free, but I'll take it.
Back when Hulu was free with ads, and premium for no-ads, it was a totally different service. It had much less content, and didn't have access to shows immediately after they aired. It has changed, I'm ok with that. I can say this much, Hulu has never been coy or deceitful about it, or tried to conceal these changes (unlike cable companies).
I may not be a Hulu subscriber forever, but for today I like it. Voting with my wallet, I choose to pay only for services that are ad-free, and Hulu's higher-tier qualifies for that.
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They didn't have losses. Netflix still grew this past year, even after the price increases. It just grew at a slower pace than before and at a slower pace than investors expected.
This latest quarter they lost subscribers. Find that and post it. And be done with your games. Lol
Don't know what their churn rate is. It's possible it's higher now. I do know that their churn rate changes from quarter to quarter and year to year. I also know that their churn rate is lowest among OTT providers.
https://iotworldnews.com/2016/04/netflix-has-lowest-ott-us-subscriber-churn-rates/
Netflix has lowest OTT US subscriber churn rates
April 19th, 2016
Netflix still leads the OTT market in the US, where 52% of all US broadband households were subscribed to the service by the end of 2015, according to research by Parks Associates.
The ‘OTT Video Market Tracker’ also showed that at the end of 2015, around 20% of US broadband households had cancelled at least one OTT video service in the past 12 months.
Low churn
Netflix was revealed as being the service with the lowest churn rate as a percentage of its total subscriber base. In the past 12 months, 5% of US broadband households cancelled their Netflix account, including those who cancelled at the end of the trial period. That figure was up from 4% in Q2 2015 and represents 9% of the company’s current subscriber base.
By contrast, 7% of US broadband households cancelled a Hulu subscription in 2015, which represents approximately half of Hulu’s current subscriber base. This was roughly the same churn rate that was observed in Q2 2015.
In addition, 5% of US broadband households indicated that they had unsubscribed from Amazon’s Prime Video service in 2015, a figure that represents 19% of those who claim to be current subscribers to Amazon Prime Video. This number shows that the churn rate for Amazon’s video service declined slightly from Q2 2015 to the end of the year.
April 19th, 2016
Netflix still leads the OTT market in the US, where 52% of all US broadband households were subscribed to the service by the end of 2015, according to research by Parks Associates.
The ‘OTT Video Market Tracker’ also showed that at the end of 2015, around 20% of US broadband households had cancelled at least one OTT video service in the past 12 months.
Low churn
Netflix was revealed as being the service with the lowest churn rate as a percentage of its total subscriber base. In the past 12 months, 5% of US broadband households cancelled their Netflix account, including those who cancelled at the end of the trial period. That figure was up from 4% in Q2 2015 and represents 9% of the company’s current subscriber base.
By contrast, 7% of US broadband households cancelled a Hulu subscription in 2015, which represents approximately half of Hulu’s current subscriber base. This was roughly the same churn rate that was observed in Q2 2015.
In addition, 5% of US broadband households indicated that they had unsubscribed from Amazon’s Prime Video service in 2015, a figure that represents 19% of those who claim to be current subscribers to Amazon Prime Video. This number shows that the churn rate for Amazon’s video service declined slightly from Q2 2015 to the end of the year.
It's slowed, not stalled.
I've been using the free Hulu to watch TV shows as I only have an OTA antenna for my TV. During the summer the only thing I'm watching is The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. I thought about subscribing but when they took away the "queue" and forced me to "watchlist" I found the whole thing is terrible.
Now everytime I go to Hulu.com I have to do a search for The Tonight Show and click on the episode that I didn't see yet because my watchlist just has random episodes of shows I favorited or checked out in the past. The queue was perfect because it listed all the shows I favorited and the episodes that I hadn't seen.
At first I did not understand what was going on when I was switched to the the watchlist but after googling apparently the majority of Hulu users hate watchlist. It is seriously the most ridiculous backwards thinking -makes no sense- update ever. When the regular TV season starts up again I might as well go back to downloading them from newsgroups.
Now everytime I go to Hulu.com I have to do a search for The Tonight Show and click on the episode that I didn't see yet because my watchlist just has random episodes of shows I favorited or checked out in the past. The queue was perfect because it listed all the shows I favorited and the episodes that I hadn't seen.
At first I did not understand what was going on when I was switched to the the watchlist but after googling apparently the majority of Hulu users hate watchlist. It is seriously the most ridiculous backwards thinking -makes no sense- update ever. When the regular TV season starts up again I might as well go back to downloading them from newsgroups.