RESEARCH STARTER

Hulu (company)

Hulu is a privately held online media streaming company based in Santa Monica, California, that launched in March 2008. Initially formed as a joint venture of major media companies including NBCUniversal, Fox, and Disney-ABC, Hulu provides subscribers access to a wide range of content, including current television shows, classic series, films, and original programming. By 2022, the platform boasted approximately 48 million subscribers, positioning itself as one of the largest streaming services globally.

Hulu offers both a free, ad-supported tier and subscription options, including a commercial-free plan. Notably, it has expanded its services to include live television and has developed original content, achieving significant acclaim with shows like *The Handmaid's Tale*. Over the years, Hulu's ownership has shifted, with Disney acquiring a controlling stake in 2019, while the company navigated intense competition from other streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Hulu is recognized for transforming television consumption habits, contributing to the rise of binge-watching, and influencing how audiences engage with media in the digital age.

Full Article

  • Date Founded: 2008
  • Industry: Online media streaming
  • Corporate Headquarters: Santa Monica, California
  • Type: Private

Overview

Hulu is an online media streaming company with headquarters in Santa Monica, California, privately held until 2019, though the Walt Disney Company acquired it wholly in 2025. Hulu was formed as a joint venture of major media companies, including NBCUniversal Television Group, Fox Broadcasting Company, and Disney-ABC Television Group. It launched to the public in March 2008 as the video-streaming website hulu.com. Subscribers use an internet connection to stream video programming from specific providers such as NBC, Fox, Disney, ABC, Sony, Warner Bros, and more to devices such as smartphones, televisions, gaming consoles, and digital media players. In the 2020s, as the streaming service market vastly expanded, Hulu remained among the top streaming services in the world. By the mid-2020s, Hulu had over 53 million subscribers.

Hulu provided subscribers access to network television programming, full seasons of older popular television series, films, and original content until 2016, when the company eliminated its free programming option. Hulu also had a base monthly subscriber fee with commercials, and a more expensive monthly option without commercials to access all content on the site. In 2017, Hulu also began offering a live television service.

To compete with other online streaming services such as Amazon and Netflix, Hulu began to offer original programming such as the show Difficult People (2015–2017), eventually finding a major hit with The Handmaid’s Tale (2017–2025) in 2017. To compete with cable television, the company made agreements with television channels to pick up and continue canceled programs, including The Mindy Project (2012–2017) and Nashville (2012–2018), and run older series, such as Seinfeld (1989–1998).

By 2018, Hulu had over seventeen million subscribers, hundreds of millions of hours of footage, and more than four hundred content partners. Analysts estimated Hulu’s worth at $25 billion by mid-2016, though other valuations of the private company have varied. In 2019, Hulu became a division of Disney, which already owned two-thirds of Hulu’s shares, after the company agreed to purchase the remaining shares of Hulu from Comcast; the deal was finalized in 2025.

History

The concept for Hulu began around 2006 as executives at News Corp. and NBC Universal explored ideas for a video-streaming site. Around this time, video-sharing sites such as YouTube had become increasingly popular, and many companies were looking for new ways to utilize technology to provide online services to consumers. Jason Kilar, who had previously worked at Amazon, was installed as chief executive officer (CEO) in 2007 and was given the task of implementing Hulu as a vehicle for people to access television programming and films whenever and wherever they wanted.

Television and film studios were not receptive to online video sites as they were seen as major competition. Many executives at networks such as NBC and Fox did not want to see their programming pirated for online use, so they partnered and developed an idea for a place to offer their content online. Before Hulu was even a reality, it had been dubbed Clown Co. because few believed people would pay to watch online content.

Kilar worked with executives, designers, advertisers, technology experts, and others to make Hulu a success. He ensured that Hulu’s video player was larger than other video players. He demanded more recent programming and rejected older series. When high definition (HD) was introduced, Kilar pushed for more HD content on Hulu. He even devised a way for viewers to watch the advertisements they preferred and skip the ones they did not want to see. The company started with only nine advertisers. By 2016, Hulu had more than two thousand advertisers. However, this did not materialize without some pushback from network executives, who were slow to come around to the idea of Hulu.

In 2009, Hulu was beginning to make a name for itself. A Super Bowl ad that year further bolstered its image, as did new investor Disney. By the end of the year, Hulu was rated the second most popular video streaming site.

While Hulu was successful as an ad-supported business, the company decided that it would need to start charging subscription rates to remain lucrative. Some content on Hulu would remain free, however. Hulu Plus, the paid subscription service, rolled out in 2010 at a rate of $7.99 per month. It offered more programming than free Hulu and allowed subscribers to stream content to multiple devices.

By the end of the summer of 2010, rumors swirled that Hulu had plans for an initial public offering (IPO) with a valuation of about $2 billion. The IPO plans fell through by the end of the year, however. In mid-2011, rumors of a potential sale of Hulu surfaced as Yahoo! made an unsolicited bid for the company. Hulu executives entertained the thought of selling but changed their minds.

During this period, Hulu faced serious competition from other streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix. To keep up with these rivals, Hulu began offering original programming to its subscribers. At the end of 2012, the company had more than three million paid subscribers and $695 million in revenue. By early 2013, Kilar stepped down as CEO to pursue other ventures. Mike Hopkins filled the role later in 2013. Around this time, the company entertained selling again, but its price point (nearly $1 billion) was not met.

In the following years, Hulu continued to increase its numbers but remained behind its competitors. In 2015, Hulu reached nine million subscribers, but Netflix and Amazon were ahead with more than 40 million apiece. That same year, Hulu announced a second subscription service—one without commercials—at a rate of $11.99 per month and dropped the word Plus from its paid subscription service. It planned to expand its original content, working with well-known creators such as J. J. Abrams and Amy Poehler. Hulu also revamped its team of executives in an effort to match its competitors. In 2016, media giant Time Warner bought a 10 percent stake in Hulu. That year the company unveiled plans for a cable subscription service, set to debut in 2017. It also announced it had reached twelve million official subscribers, revealed continued growth but continuing to lag well behind Netflix.

After several years of developing original content, Hulu saw its first major critical and commercial hit in 2017 with the series The Handmaid’s Tale, adapted from the acclaimed Margaret Atwood novel of the same name. The show brought much attention to the company when it won Emmy and Golden Globe awards for best drama series. Building on this success, Hulu continued its push to develop original programming with high production values and notable producers and stars. The company also benefited from the acquisition of back catalogs of popular network television shows, especially as its parent companies tended to prefer to license material from their own networks to their joint venture instead of to streaming leader Netflix.

Hulu also made headlines in 2017 and 2018 for behind-the-scenes negotiations regarding its ownership, which was at that point split into 30 percent shares for Comcast, 21st Century Fox, and Disney, along with 10 percent for Time Warner. In 2017, Disney announced a major deal to acquire most of 21st Century Fox, including its stake in Hulu. Even after the deal was approved, many analysts wondered how Disney taking a 60 percent controlling stake in the streaming service would affect the relationship with Comcast, especially as Disney had just announced it would be developing two of its own streaming platforms.

Meanwhile, telecommunications industry giant AT&T sought to acquire Time Warner, including its share in Hulu, in a massive deal that drew regulatory scrutiny, adding further speculation to the future of the streaming service. These questions came at a time when the company continued to post operating losses and faced stiff competition from Netflix, Amazon, and others, including technology company Apple. By 2018, Hulu remained only available in the US with seventeen million subscribers, still trailing Netflix’s nearly 53 million US subscribers and 100 million globally. In 2019, Disney reached a deal with Comcast to take control of all shares in Hulu and remained the owner of the company in 2023 despite launching its own successful streaming service. In the mid-2020s, Hulu was still only available in the US and struggled to compete with streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+.

Disney announced plans to acquire the remaining 33 percent of Hulu from NBCUniversal for $8.61 billion in 2023. In anticipation of this plan, Disney integrated Hulu content into Disney+, streamlining its streaming services. In 2025, Disney resolved the appraisal process for Comcast/NBCUniversal’s remaining Hulu stake, clearing the way for Disney to take full control of the service. Disney and Fubo announced a partnership that combined their streaming services, including Hulu + Live TV, into one platform.

Impact

Along with other online streaming services, Hulu helped change how people watch television. By taking advantage of digital media technology and offering online content, the company allows subscribers to view programming whenever and wherever they choose. In the years following Hulu’s launch, online subscriptions rose while cable television subscriptions dipped. Television viewership decreased overall as more people turned to services such as Hulu for entertainment.

The instant access provided by Hulu and its competitors to a wide array of content, including network TV series and original programming in episodic format, also gave rise to the phenomenon known as binge-watching. In this style of viewership, consumers watch multiple episodes—perhaps even an entire series—consecutively in a short span of time rather than having to wait for installments to air weekly. Binge-watching proved highly popular among many consumers and also provided producers with new ways to measure the success of their content. However, it has been criticized by traditionalists for changing the viewing dynamic as well as by some health professionals for contributing to a sedentary lifestyle. In the 2020s, Hulu and Disney have faced repeated controversies involving political ad censorship, controversial content, public backlash, subscription boycotts, and major streaming glitches, raising concerns over content moderation, platform management, and audience trust.


Bibliography

“About Hulu.” Hulu, press.hulu.com/corporate. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Company Overview of Hulu, LLC.” Bloomberg, www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/3276470Z:US. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Curry, David. “Home App Data Hulu Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023).” Business of Apps, 7 Jan. 2026, www.businessofapps.com/data/hulu-statistics. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Fretts, Bruce. “Inside Hulu’s Bold Plan to Lure New Viewers.” Fast Company, 15 June 2015, www.fastcompany.com/3046885/inside-hulus-bold-plan-to-lure-new-viewers. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Fubo and Disney’s Hulu + Live TV Virtual MVPD Businesses to Combine.” Fubo, 6 Jan. 2025, ir.fubo.tv/news/news-details/2025/Fubo-and-Disneys-Hulu/default.aspx. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Inside Hulu’s Winning Social Media Strategy.” 18 Dec. 2023, www.fastcompany.com/90825413/hulu-originals-winning-social-media-kardashians-dropout. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Kaye, Danielle. “Spike in Disney+ Cancellations after Kimmel Suspension.” BBC, 21 Oct. 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1wle4dx4qwo. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Koblin, John. “Hulu Puts Up a Fight Against Netflix, Amazon and Apple.” The New York Times, 25 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/business/media/hulu-puts-up-a-fight-against-netflix-amazon-and-apple.html. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Koblin, John. “The Streaming Landscape after Disney’s Deal.” The New York Times, 14 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/business/media/disney-streaming-21st-century-fox.html. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Sherman, Alex, and Lillian Rizzo. “Comcast Executives Expect Disney to Stick to Its Agreement to Acquire the Remaining Stake in Hulu.” CNBC, 3 Sept. 2022, www.cnbc.com/2022/09/02/comcast-executives-expect-disney-to-buy-remaining-stake-in-hulu.html. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Szalai, Georg. “Hulu Now Worth $25B, Up from $15B, Analyst Says.” Hollywood Reporter, 23 May 2016, www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hulu-worth-25b-analyst-says-896612. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Top Streaming Services by Subscribers.” FlixPatrol, flixpatrol.com/streaming-services/subscribers. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Full Article

  • Date Founded: 2008
  • Industry: Online media streaming
  • Corporate Headquarters: Santa Monica, California
  • Type: Private

Overview

Hulu is an online media streaming company with headquarters in Santa Monica, California, privately held until 2019, though the Walt Disney Company acquired it wholly in 2025. Hulu was formed as a joint venture of major media companies, including NBCUniversal Television Group, Fox Broadcasting Company, and Disney-ABC Television Group. It launched to the public in March 2008 as the video-streaming website hulu.com. Subscribers use an internet connection to stream video programming from specific providers such as NBC, Fox, Disney, ABC, Sony, Warner Bros, and more to devices such as smartphones, televisions, gaming consoles, and digital media players. In the 2020s, as the streaming service market vastly expanded, Hulu remained among the top streaming services in the world. By the mid-2020s, Hulu had over 53 million subscribers.

Hulu provided subscribers access to network television programming, full seasons of older popular television series, films, and original content until 2016, when the company eliminated its free programming option. Hulu also had a base monthly subscriber fee with commercials, and a more expensive monthly option without commercials to access all content on the site. In 2017, Hulu also began offering a live television service.

To compete with other online streaming services such as Amazon and Netflix, Hulu began to offer original programming such as the show Difficult People (2015–2017), eventually finding a major hit with The Handmaid’s Tale (2017–2025) in 2017. To compete with cable television, the company made agreements with television channels to pick up and continue canceled programs, including The Mindy Project (2012–2017) and Nashville (2012–2018), and run older series, such as Seinfeld (1989–1998).

By 2018, Hulu had over seventeen million subscribers, hundreds of millions of hours of footage, and more than four hundred content partners. Analysts estimated Hulu’s worth at $25 billion by mid-2016, though other valuations of the private company have varied. In 2019, Hulu became a division of Disney, which already owned two-thirds of Hulu’s shares, after the company agreed to purchase the remaining shares of Hulu from Comcast; the deal was finalized in 2025.

History

The concept for Hulu began around 2006 as executives at News Corp. and NBC Universal explored ideas for a video-streaming site. Around this time, video-sharing sites such as YouTube had become increasingly popular, and many companies were looking for new ways to utilize technology to provide online services to consumers. Jason Kilar, who had previously worked at Amazon, was installed as chief executive officer (CEO) in 2007 and was given the task of implementing Hulu as a vehicle for people to access television programming and films whenever and wherever they wanted.

Television and film studios were not receptive to online video sites as they were seen as major competition. Many executives at networks such as NBC and Fox did not want to see their programming pirated for online use, so they partnered and developed an idea for a place to offer their content online. Before Hulu was even a reality, it had been dubbed Clown Co. because few believed people would pay to watch online content.

Kilar worked with executives, designers, advertisers, technology experts, and others to make Hulu a success. He ensured that Hulu’s video player was larger than other video players. He demanded more recent programming and rejected older series. When high definition (HD) was introduced, Kilar pushed for more HD content on Hulu. He even devised a way for viewers to watch the advertisements they preferred and skip the ones they did not want to see. The company started with only nine advertisers. By 2016, Hulu had more than two thousand advertisers. However, this did not materialize without some pushback from network executives, who were slow to come around to the idea of Hulu.

In 2009, Hulu was beginning to make a name for itself. A Super Bowl ad that year further bolstered its image, as did new investor Disney. By the end of the year, Hulu was rated the second most popular video streaming site.

While Hulu was successful as an ad-supported business, the company decided that it would need to start charging subscription rates to remain lucrative. Some content on Hulu would remain free, however. Hulu Plus, the paid subscription service, rolled out in 2010 at a rate of $7.99 per month. It offered more programming than free Hulu and allowed subscribers to stream content to multiple devices.

By the end of the summer of 2010, rumors swirled that Hulu had plans for an initial public offering (IPO) with a valuation of about $2 billion. The IPO plans fell through by the end of the year, however. In mid-2011, rumors of a potential sale of Hulu surfaced as Yahoo! made an unsolicited bid for the company. Hulu executives entertained the thought of selling but changed their minds.

During this period, Hulu faced serious competition from other streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix. To keep up with these rivals, Hulu began offering original programming to its subscribers. At the end of 2012, the company had more than three million paid subscribers and $695 million in revenue. By early 2013, Kilar stepped down as CEO to pursue other ventures. Mike Hopkins filled the role later in 2013. Around this time, the company entertained selling again, but its price point (nearly $1 billion) was not met.

In the following years, Hulu continued to increase its numbers but remained behind its competitors. In 2015, Hulu reached nine million subscribers, but Netflix and Amazon were ahead with more than 40 million apiece. That same year, Hulu announced a second subscription service—one without commercials—at a rate of $11.99 per month and dropped the word Plus from its paid subscription service. It planned to expand its original content, working with well-known creators such as J. J. Abrams and Amy Poehler. Hulu also revamped its team of executives in an effort to match its competitors. In 2016, media giant Time Warner bought a 10 percent stake in Hulu. That year the company unveiled plans for a cable subscription service, set to debut in 2017. It also announced it had reached twelve million official subscribers, revealed continued growth but continuing to lag well behind Netflix.

After several years of developing original content, Hulu saw its first major critical and commercial hit in 2017 with the series The Handmaid’s Tale, adapted from the acclaimed Margaret Atwood novel of the same name. The show brought much attention to the company when it won Emmy and Golden Globe awards for best drama series. Building on this success, Hulu continued its push to develop original programming with high production values and notable producers and stars. The company also benefited from the acquisition of back catalogs of popular network television shows, especially as its parent companies tended to prefer to license material from their own networks to their joint venture instead of to streaming leader Netflix.

Hulu also made headlines in 2017 and 2018 for behind-the-scenes negotiations regarding its ownership, which was at that point split into 30 percent shares for Comcast, 21st Century Fox, and Disney, along with 10 percent for Time Warner. In 2017, Disney announced a major deal to acquire most of 21st Century Fox, including its stake in Hulu. Even after the deal was approved, many analysts wondered how Disney taking a 60 percent controlling stake in the streaming service would affect the relationship with Comcast, especially as Disney had just announced it would be developing two of its own streaming platforms.

Meanwhile, telecommunications industry giant AT&T sought to acquire Time Warner, including its share in Hulu, in a massive deal that drew regulatory scrutiny, adding further speculation to the future of the streaming service. These questions came at a time when the company continued to post operating losses and faced stiff competition from Netflix, Amazon, and others, including technology company Apple. By 2018, Hulu remained only available in the US with seventeen million subscribers, still trailing Netflix’s nearly 53 million US subscribers and 100 million globally. In 2019, Disney reached a deal with Comcast to take control of all shares in Hulu and remained the owner of the company in 2023 despite launching its own successful streaming service. In the mid-2020s, Hulu was still only available in the US and struggled to compete with streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+.

Disney announced plans to acquire the remaining 33 percent of Hulu from NBCUniversal for $8.61 billion in 2023. In anticipation of this plan, Disney integrated Hulu content into Disney+, streamlining its streaming services. In 2025, Disney resolved the appraisal process for Comcast/NBCUniversal’s remaining Hulu stake, clearing the way for Disney to take full control of the service. Disney and Fubo announced a partnership that combined their streaming services, including Hulu + Live TV, into one platform.

Impact

Along with other online streaming services, Hulu helped change how people watch television. By taking advantage of digital media technology and offering online content, the company allows subscribers to view programming whenever and wherever they choose. In the years following Hulu’s launch, online subscriptions rose while cable television subscriptions dipped. Television viewership decreased overall as more people turned to services such as Hulu for entertainment.

The instant access provided by Hulu and its competitors to a wide array of content, including network TV series and original programming in episodic format, also gave rise to the phenomenon known as binge-watching. In this style of viewership, consumers watch multiple episodes—perhaps even an entire series—consecutively in a short span of time rather than having to wait for installments to air weekly. Binge-watching proved highly popular among many consumers and also provided producers with new ways to measure the success of their content. However, it has been criticized by traditionalists for changing the viewing dynamic as well as by some health professionals for contributing to a sedentary lifestyle. In the 2020s, Hulu and Disney have faced repeated controversies involving political ad censorship, controversial content, public backlash, subscription boycotts, and major streaming glitches, raising concerns over content moderation, platform management, and audience trust.


Bibliography

“About Hulu.” Hulu, press.hulu.com/corporate. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Company Overview of Hulu, LLC.” Bloomberg, www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/3276470Z:US. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Curry, David. “Home App Data Hulu Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023).” Business of Apps, 7 Jan. 2026, www.businessofapps.com/data/hulu-statistics. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Fretts, Bruce. “Inside Hulu’s Bold Plan to Lure New Viewers.” Fast Company, 15 June 2015, www.fastcompany.com/3046885/inside-hulus-bold-plan-to-lure-new-viewers. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Fubo and Disney’s Hulu + Live TV Virtual MVPD Businesses to Combine.” Fubo, 6 Jan. 2025, ir.fubo.tv/news/news-details/2025/Fubo-and-Disneys-Hulu/default.aspx. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Inside Hulu’s Winning Social Media Strategy.” 18 Dec. 2023, www.fastcompany.com/90825413/hulu-originals-winning-social-media-kardashians-dropout. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Kaye, Danielle. “Spike in Disney+ Cancellations after Kimmel Suspension.” BBC, 21 Oct. 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1wle4dx4qwo. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Koblin, John. “Hulu Puts Up a Fight Against Netflix, Amazon and Apple.” The New York Times, 25 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/business/media/hulu-puts-up-a-fight-against-netflix-amazon-and-apple.html. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Koblin, John. “The Streaming Landscape after Disney’s Deal.” The New York Times, 14 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/business/media/disney-streaming-21st-century-fox.html. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Sherman, Alex, and Lillian Rizzo. “Comcast Executives Expect Disney to Stick to Its Agreement to Acquire the Remaining Stake in Hulu.” CNBC, 3 Sept. 2022, www.cnbc.com/2022/09/02/comcast-executives-expect-disney-to-buy-remaining-stake-in-hulu.html. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Szalai, Georg. “Hulu Now Worth $25B, Up from $15B, Analyst Says.” Hollywood Reporter, 23 May 2016, www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hulu-worth-25b-analyst-says-896612. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Top Streaming Services by Subscribers.” FlixPatrol, flixpatrol.com/streaming-services/subscribers. Accessed 19 May 2026.

More Like ThisRelated Articles

Related Articles (5)

Related Articles (5)