Hulu has reported having a great first quarter of 2011, and the company expects to have even better quarters going forward. Mainly thanks to Hulu Plus, with 1 million subscribers expected to be on the books by the end of the year.
Hulu Q1 2011
In an official blog post last week, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar spelled out how impressive the numbers are for Q1 2011, and how the remainder of the year is shaping up. Rather nicely.
Between Q1 2010 and Q1 2011 revenue grew an astonishing 90 percent. In 2010 Hulu took $263 million total, while it expects to do nearer $500 million in 2011. Of that $500 million $300 million will be paid out to content providers.
While most of the increased revenue is as a result of Hulu Plus (see below), the number of advertisers on board has also shot up, from 194 in Q1 2010 to 289 in Q1 2011. Whether the amount of money those advertisers are spending has also increased wasn’t revealed.
Hulu Plus
In terms of Hulu Plus, the $7.99-a-month subscription service which adds full seasons of shows and access on devices other than PC, the statistics are even more revealing.
Kilar claims that Hulu Plus is on course to gain in excess of 1 million subscribers in 2011, and that this represents “the fastest start of any online video subscription service.”
This seems paltry when compared to the 20 million people with Netflix subscriptions, but it’s a good start for a service still under a year old and which doesn’t even get rid of the advertising.
Conclusions
appears to be going from strength to strength, picking up advertisers, content, Hulu Plus subscribers, and revenue over the past 12 months.
Unfortunately it’s still limited to the borders of the U.S., as plans to expand internationally haven’t panned out as yet. Still, with all that extra cash swilling around there’s always a chance of it happening.
