During their fourth quarter earnings call, which took place Nov. 7, Disney announced that Hulu added 500,000 paid subscribers, reaching 28.5 million paid subscribers in total. This was up from 28 million monthly paid subscribers at the end of Q3, and 26.8 million subscribers the company announced at their Hulu ‘19 Presentation in May, and 23 million in January.
Now, it appears the company is revising these numbers. According to a new SEC filling, the streaming service closed out the quarter with 29 million paid subscribers total, as first reported by FierceVideo. It remains unclear how many Hulu subscribers are signing up for the live TV tier with their subscriptions, but media analyst firm MoffettNathanson says Hulu now has 2.7 million live TV subscribers, putting it just slightly ahead of Dish Network’s Sling TV and making it the largest virtual MVPD platform.
While it is one of the fastest growing streaming services, Disney hopes to accelerate it further by bundling it with ESPN+ and Disney+. Subscribers are able to access all three services for just $12.99 a month, which is the same price as Netflix.
Disney announced aggressive plans to accelerate content for Hulu. Starting next March, all seasons of the FX library, as well as current and upcoming shows, will debut on Hulu just hours after they air on linear TV. FX will also begin producing original shows for Hulu including four new series next year. Some of those shows include “Debs, A Teacher, Ms. America” with Cate Blanchett and “The Old Man” with Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow.