Hulu Expanding to Japan

LOS ANGELES: Hulu is bringing its online rental and streaming service to Japan, to launch later this year.

In a blog post, Johannes Larcher, Hulu’s senior VP of international, said the company has decided to expand beyond the U.S.—with availability already in Canada and soon to be in Latin America and the Caribbean—and has chosen Japan as its first international post. The Japanese audiences are "passionate about premium video content," Larcher said, and the country is also a key producer of TV and feature films. "In Japan, we also see an unfulfilled market need with respect to premium feature film and TV content, and very favorable environmental factors to a service like ours, including extensive broadband penetration, smart phone and other Internet-connected device ubiquity, and strong consumer interest," the blog post continued. "We have been able to use what we have learned from Hulu and Hulu Plus, in addition to the insights gleaned from our market research, to design a high value product specifically tailored for Japanese customers."

Details of the product offering were not yet announced. Hulu has opened offices in Tokyo, with a dedicated Japanese team.