Hulu is an over-the-top content brand and American subscription streaming television service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It is one of the most-subscribed video on demand streaming media services, with 64.1 million paid memberships. Its headquarters are located in Los Angeles, California, with offices in Santa Monica, California (the former West Coast bureau for HBO), New York City, and Seattle, Washington. Hulu was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as a joint venture between News Corporation and NBC Universal; Providence Equity, Disney, and Time Warner later made investments in the service.
Hulu originally served as an aggregator, streaming recent episodes of programs from the companies' television networks (including ABC, NBC, and Fox). In 2010, Hulu launched a subscription service, initially branded as "Hulu Plus", which featured full seasons of programs from the companies and other partners, and access to new episodes immediately after their airing. In 2016, Hulu syndicated its free library to Yahoo in order to focus exclusively on Hulu Plus. In 2017, the company launched "Hulu + Live TV"—a superset of Hulu Plus also offering access to broadcast and cable television channels.
In 2019, Disney acquired a majority stake in Hulu as part of its acquisition of News Corporation successor 21st Century Fox, and subsequently acquired the remaining stakes held by AT&T and Comcast in 2019 and 2023, respectively, giving it full ownership.[3] Following the acquisition, Disney began to establish synergies between Hulu and its sister service Disney+, including integrating a Hulu content hub into the Disney+ library for users subscribed to both services. In 2025, Disney announced plans to eventually discontinue Hulu's existing apps in favor of a shared platform with Disney+, although they will remain separate subscriptions.
Aside from a Japanese version of the service launched in 2011 (which would be acquired by Nippon Television in 2014), Hulu did not pursue a wider international expansion until 2025, when Disney announced that Hulu would replace its Star brand for general entertainment content on Disney+ outside of the United States.
In January 2025, Disney announced its intent to acquire a 70% majority stake in competing streaming television service FuboTV, which was completed on October 29, 2025. The merged business consist of the FuboTV and the Hulu + Live TV businesses, and remains led by Fubo CEO David Gandler.
Etymology
The name Hulu comes from two Mandarin Chinese phrases, and .[4]
Jason Kilar, who served as CEO of Hulu, said the name comes from a Chinese proverb:Hulu is Mandarin for gourd. And so when we were launching Hulu, we thought, "what a great name that is." And it had this great sort of symbolism of the holder of precious things, which is the holder of premium content. So that's why we named it Hulu.[5]
History
Early years (2007–2010)
Individuals who were instrumental in the founding of Hulu include Bruce Campbell,[6] Peter Chernin,[7] JB Perrette,[8] Mike Lang,[9] Beth Comstock, George Kliavkoff, Darren Feher, and Jason Kilar. Rus Yusupov, the lead designer on Hulu's original design team, played a key role in shaping the platform's initial interface and user experience.[10] Hulu was announced in March 2007 with AOL
Content
Original content
From January 17, 2011, to April 24, 2014, Hulu streamed its own in-house web series The Morning After, a light-hearted pop-culture news show. It was produced by Hulu in conjunction with Jace Hall's HDFilms and stars Brian Kimmet and Ginger Gonzaga. Producing the show was a first for the company, which in the past has been primarily a content distributor.[70]
On January 16, 2012, Hulu announced that it would be airing its first original script based program, titled Battleground, which premiered in February 2012. The program aired on Hulu's free web service rather than on the subscription-based Hulu Plus. Battleground is described as a documentary-style political drama.[71]
Later that same month, Hulu announced it would air The Fashion Fund, a six-part reality series, and the winner of the show would receive $300,000 to start their career.[72]
Services
Hulu on demand service
Hulu's subscription service was launched in a software release life cycle on June 29, 2010,[119] and officially launched on November 17, 2010, under the branding Hulu Plus.[120] The service remained advertising-supported, but it offers an expanded content library including full seasons, day-after access to current season content and more episodes of shows available. Hulu also launched Hulu Plus apps on other types of devices, including mobile, digital media players, and video game consoles. By the end of 2011, Hulu Plus had around 1.5 million subscribers.[121]
On April 29, 2015, it was announced that the "Hulu Plus" branding would be discontinued, and that the service would be henceforth marketed as simply "Hulu" to place it in-line with its subscription-only competitors. By then, the service had grown to 9 million subscribers.[122]
Viewership
Viewership numbers for the site are tracked by measurement firms such as YouGov, Comscore, Nielsen Media Research, and Quantcast. In partnership with comScore, Hulu is the first digital company to receive multi-platform measurement at an individual level that includes co-viewing for living room devices.
The reliability of these metrics has been drawn into question, partly due to widely divergent estimates. For example, between May and June 2010, ComScore updated its scoring methodology and its estimates for Hulu. Hulu's viewers would go from 43.5 million to 24 million in one month.[161] In a comScore digital trends report in 2010, comScore's Digital Year in Review report found that Hulu was watched twice as much as viewers who watched on the websites of the five major TV networks combined.[162]
Hulu in May 2018 announced it has surpassed 20 million subscribers in the United States.[163] The tally, which puts the company about 36 million subscriptions behind Netflix, was disclosed at a media presentation at the newly named Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Awards and nominations
Hulu original series The Handmaid's Tale won two awards at the 33rd annual Television Critics Association Awards for Program of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Drama.[164][165] At the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, Hulu earned a total of eight awards for the series and became the first streaming service to win Outstanding Drama Series.[166][167] The Handmaid's Tale also received Emmys for Outstanding Directing, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Cinematography and Outstanding Production Design. Elisabeth Moss won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress, and Ann Dowd the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress.[168]
See also
- Economy of Santa Monica, California
- Over-the-top television
- Television in the United States
External links
References
- Todd Spangler. Disney+ Adds 3.8 Million Subscribers, Hulu Packs on 8.6 Million Amid Kimmel Controversy in September Quarter Variety, 2025-11-13, retrieved 2025-11-13^
- Moss. Hulu Becomes Global General Entertainment Brand on Disney+ on Oct. 8 The Walt Disney Company, 2025-10-02, retrieved 2025-10-02^
- Alex Weprin. Disney to Pay Comcast an Additional $439 Million for Hulu Stake as Streaming Saga Comes to an End