Hulu subscribership continues to climb as the Disney-owned streamer announced today in their Q1 2020 earnings report that they added 7.6 million new members since the end of 2018 and was at 30.4 million subscribers at the end of 2019 — including 3.2 million Hulu Live TV subscribers.
On their earnings call, Iger shared that Hulu has reached 30.7 million subscribers as of Monday. The company expects to expand Hulu internationally in 2021.
“Thanks to our incredible collection of brands, outstanding content from our creative engines and state-of-the-art technology, we believe our direct-to-consumer services, including Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, position us well for continued growth in today’s dynamic media environment,” said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company.
Hulu has been steadily gaining viewers over the past year, capping their fourth quarter with 29 million subscribers last November. This was up from the 28 million monthly paid subscribers at the end of Q3, 26.8 million subscribers the company announced at their Hulu ‘19 Presentation in May and 23 million last January.
While Hulu is one of the fastest growing streaming services, Disney hopes to accelerate its growth 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 also announced aggressive plans to accelerate content for Hulu. Starting in 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.
News of the move came just months after the FX+ premium ad-free streaming service shut down. FX+ was $5.99 a month and included 1,400 episodes of FX Originals plus early access to new shows before they premiered. The service included current shows from FX, FXX and FXM such as “Atlanta”and “The Americans,” as well as old favorites like “Rescue Me” and “The League.”
Content will be available as part of either your ad-supported ($5.99) or ad-free ($11.99) plan.
Sean Dennison contributed to this blog post.