During our discussion of digital streaming platforms, I asked her if she had heard of the US service Hulu. It is not surprising that Disney would develop a route to monetize their library of Hulu licensed content and originals in markets outside the United States. These decisions, in my mind, reflected specific target demographics. Hulu was originally conceived of as a way to adapt broadcast distribution logics into streaming distribution, to circumvent both YouTube and iTunes as third-party gatekeepers, and control the online advertising ecosystem.
They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing. Officially launched in October , a year after Netflix began its streaming service, Hulu distinguished itself from these other streaming platforms by offering next-day streaming of current network programs for free to visitors, as well as offering subscribers a catalog of films and television series to view online.
To this end, when Hulu launched, ads were shorter and only comprised two minutes per half hour, a stark contrast to the traditional six minutes per half hour on linear TV.
At the same time that Hulu was making plans to launch its Hulu Live service, an option that would allow subscribers to pay extra for an over-the-top linear television programming akin to cable, it was also shifting away from its position as the online venue for Comcast, News Corp and Disney to distribute next-day broadcast network content in a free, ad-supported environment.
Hulu was one of the first platforms in the US to begin producing original content for exclusive distribution on their streaming service in , two years before Netflix got into the original content game with House of Cards in These shifts are in flux, as Comcast still has ongoing licensing agreements through , although it surrendered its stakeholder control to Disney in a agreement after the TCF deal made Disney the outsized majority stakeholder in Hulu.
