Hulu Plus is still at an early stage of life, having launched just two months ago. So what content, at this early stage, are subscribers actually getting for the $10-per-month asking price? Not that much, it would seem.
Hulu Plus
, in case you’re wondering, is the premium, paid-for, subscription service newly offered by Hulu. We knew it was on its way months before any official details were revealed.
Hulu Plus finally launched at the end of June, with the $10-per-month service designed to sit happily alongside the free Hulu.com website.
Hulu Plus brings Hulu to a whole range of devices beyond the computer, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 games consoles, and the Apple iPad and iPhone early recipients.
However, as great as all this sounds, what do you actually get for your money? Research firm One Touch Intelligence decided to find out at this very early stage in the life of Hulu Plus.
Hulu Plus Content Analysis
The good news is that there are 28,418 episodes available through Hulu Plus. The bad news is that just 3,564 of these are Hulu Plus exclusives, with the other 24,854 also available on the free-to-watch Hulu. This equates to 88 percent of full episodic content. For clips, the figure rises to 98 percent.
The main reason for subscribing to Hulu Plus is, it seems, to gain access to more episodes of the shows which are already on Hulu.com. The only notable shows which are exclusive to Hulu Plus are Law and Order, My Name Is Earl, Prison Break, and 8 Simple Rules.
Whether these two bonuses – a few extra shows and a few thousand extra episodes of existing shows – is enough to persuade people to pay up remains to be seen.
It is important to note, however, that Hulu is likely to keep adding content as time goes on, with two months clearly not long enough to make any serious conclusions
Conclusions
At present I can’t see Hulu Plus subscriptions being a big seller, with more reasons to sign up needed. However, ABC, NBC, and Fox aren’t likely to give up before giving this a serious shot, and giving the content line-up a serious shot in the arm.
