Hulu Renews The Path & The Mindy Project, Launches Doc Unit

NEW YORK: At Hulu’s Upfront presentation, the on-demand streaming service announced the renewal of the drama The Path for a second season and the comedy series The Mindy Project for a fifth, in addition to launching a brand-new documentary division.

The Path comes from Universal Television and Jason Katims’ True Jack Productions. The series, which stars Aaron Paul, Michelle Monaghan and Hugh Dancy, follows a family at the center of a controversial cult. The finale episode of season one will become available May 25; all past episodes are available for streaming.

The Mindy Project came to Hulu as an original in season four and is now set for a fifth season. The Mindy Kaling series is from 3 Arts Entertainment in association with Universal Television.

Hulu also announced a second election special from Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog that will debut exclusively on the service later this year.

For the brand-new Hulu Documentary Films arm, the service secured the exclusive U.S. streaming VOD rights for Ron Howard’s feature doc The Beatles: Eight Days A Week (working title). The project will feature rare and exclusive footage, and is produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. The Beatles: Eight Days A Week marks the first documentary feature to premiere exclusively on Hulu following its theatrical run and comes to Hulu in the company’s first-ever licensing deal with Apple Corps.

Also unveiled at the Upfront, Hulu has partnered with BrightLine to be the first streaming service to deliver first-to-market interactive advertising units. Together, Hulu and BrightLine will offer advertising experiences built exclusively for connected TVs. Hulu also revealed a new collaboration with Nielsen that will enable digital ad measurement through Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings to capture OTT viewing in the living room environment for the first time ever.

“Over the past year, we’ve propelled Hulu by adding an extraordinary array of original series, hit broadcast and cable shows and blockbuster movies to our content portfolio—all of which has led to incredible growth in subscribers and engagement,” said Hulu’s CEO, Mike Hopkins. “In 2016, we’re going even bigger and bolder. We’ll expand our offering with more premium content and brand-new ad-measurement products that will continue to make Hulu the leader in choice for seamless entertainment and advertising experiences.”