Hulu to Surpass $1 Billion in Revenue, 5 Million Paid Subscribers

LOS ANGELES: The streaming TV service Hulu has said that it will reach $1 billion in revenue by the end of this year, up from the $695 million recorded in 2012, and also has 5 million subscribers on its Hulu Plus premium service.

As for its record revenue, Mike Hopkins, Hulu's CEO, said: "When you think about the fact that Hulu first launched out of beta in 2008, it’s quite an impressive feat to scale the business from zero to $1 billion over the course of just six years."

Earlier this year, Hulu reached 5 million subscribers for its Hulu Plus paid service. Roughly half of those subs are now streaming exclusively on devices, with living-room viewing accounting for more than half of all content consumption on the service. Hulu Plus is now available on more than 400 million Internet-connected devices in the U.S.

In regard to content, this year the Hulu and Hulu Plus offerings grew to include premium programming from more than 488 content partners, providing over 86,000 TV episodes, 2,900 TV series, and 68,000 hours of video. More than 20 Hulu originals launched in 2013, and plans are to double that number over the next few years.

Hulu Japan is on track to end 2013 having more than doubled the number of subscribers from the beginning of this year. There are now more than 50 content partners offering users more than 12,000 assets of TV dramas and movies, and Hulu is available on more than 90 million devices (PCs not included).

"It has been a big year at Hulu," said Hopkins. "I feel very fortunate to have stepped into a company that has such a strong team, showing such incredible performance. I’m humbled by the work that the team has done this year, and the focus that they have continued to demonstrate. I’m pleased to report the results of the team’s great efforts this year."

He concluded: "It’s exciting for me to see the continued growth of the business and be part of such a great team. As we scale the business in 2014, we will continue to invest in content, technology and people. 2014 will bring even more opportunity as we find new ways to grow the business from the strong foundation we have built."