The internet video giant Hulu will begin charging in 2010, on a subscription model for its content according to Chase Carey, News Corp’s deputy chairman.
Hulu, the very popular portal for television content on the internet has seen explosive growth since its launch, and has proven that consumers will sit through commercials online. Hulu did away with the worry that online viewers would instead pirate video to avoid watching short advertisements.
Hulu has been experimenting with different ad formats recently, letting viewers watch one extra long pre-roll advertisement, instead of a number of shorter interruptions. However, it is now apparent that Hulu is keen to raise its revenue per user by charging directly.
There is no current set timetable, but Carey expects it to happen in 2010. Carey quoted the famous Zucker line that “We’re exchanging analogue dollars for digital dimes,” as a point in favor of charging for Hulu content.
For now, we are not sure what will be charged for, and in what way. They might only be contemplating the ability to have less advertisements for a small monthly rate, like Pandora, or perhaps a set monthly rate for a set number of streams. For now, it is anyones guess.
Will you pay for Hulu? If not, where will you get the content that you currently get from Hulu?
No, I will not pay for Hulu.
Hulu hasn’t been doing a good job with their advertisements. I try to help by clicking the like and don’t like buttons, but for whatever reason, they still think I’m interested in dove moisturizing soap. I think charging is their way of fixing this.
Why hate to say it? Nothing wrong for paying for something that you love.
For me it would depend on a couple of factors before I would pay:
1. The network sites also began charging.
2. The pricing model.
At the moment I use the internet for all my televeision – a move I am SO HAPPY to have made because of the money I am saving. While I wouldn’t be opposed to paying something for the service, I would draw the line if it started inching up to the same price as just having Basic Cable again.
Let’s face it, for me to watch Hulu happily, I had to purchase a couple extra plugs to hook the computer up to the TV, and need to hook it up every time. If the cost is relatively the same, I would go back to the convenience of hitting the remote.
I hate to say it, but I think I would pay. If it was ad-free, I wouldn’t even think about paying 10-15 bucks a month. Credit card would be flying out of my wallet.
I will not pay for Hulu. I don’t watch it that much. If they want more dollars, charge more for advertising. There are still a lot of other venues out their to receive free online programming so to pay Hulu for what you can get elsewhere for free just doesn’t make sense.
Nope. I just won’t go there anymore. Bye Hulu nice knowing you!
I rarely go on Hulu, and I don’t mind the advertisements right now. If they did make it cost money, I would never come here.
I’d pay under the condition that 1- the shows were available one hour after they appeared on the network on the West coast, 2- no commercials, 3- organization of the queue gets an upgrade 4- downloadable access. I’d pay $20 a month for it. They need to target the people who time shift and have money. Students, hard core techies and other people with the time or the ability to find pirated content won’t pay.
They need to look at people who might have the expertise but not the time to look for the shows they want on the pirated sites or torrents (like me), folks who would rather pay than put up with that one friend who knows how to do it (like Jim/Pam in that Office episode – think they wouldn’t pay ten bucks a month not to have to ask Andy?), or people who just can’t catch the shows on TV and don’t want to set their DVR or can’t. (Like people who work nights.)
Otherwise, I can just set the DVR in the house. I’m already paying for cable.
No Way …. It’s the thin end of the wedge! Before long we will be paying for web pages “Per View”. Hulu isn’t the only one to dream up ways to squeeze revenue out of the web, the newspapers are also trying to make us pay subscription fees!
It’s time we took the web back into public ownership, these sites are little more than billboards for advertisers, why should we pay them to deliver their adds to us? There are plenty of free sites as there used to be before these wise-guys jumped on the bandwagon!
If I could get a la carte cable via Hulu, most definitely. I would rather pay them 60 bucks a month for streaming/download HD of all my favorite shows, on demand than pay Cox.
Right now I download some shows via torrent sites. That’s simply because they don’t air in my region.
I used various proxies to watch Hulu. It’s not perfect. If Hulu would truly go global, I would happily pay them a monthly fee and cancel my cable subscription.
I don’t mind a longer pre-roll commercial before I watch a lengthy show. I am used to pre-rolls. Most video’s on the web have conditioned me to the pre-rolls.
A Hulu subscription is GOOD news. It’s only bad news for my current cable company. That’s what they get for providing
‘sub prime’ content.
I would like to see them have the option to pay and be add free and keep the current format for non paying customers.
I might pay for add free but it depends on what other perks there are. I already have netflix and enjoy the ability to watch in addition to getting dvd’s in the mail.
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This is where Hulu could potentially make a ton of money: charge so little that it doesn’t make sense to download it somewhere else, for free, but with a sucky interface, difficult to navigate, etc. Go Hulu!
Does that mean we will be able to get it in the UK? If so, definitely!
I would pay a small amount for Hulu, but I would expect them to upgrade their service a bit by, for example, airing episodes within a day after they hit the network. Watching shows online is fun, but it has a couple of disadvantages. A big one is that video quality is dependent on my bandwidth and Internet connection–and those can be sketchy in my neigbhorhood. If I am charged cable-prices for sub-cable service I’ll just use cable.
I would pay for Hulu if they added more networks to their available content. Right now I only watch shows from networks like ABC, NBC, and FOX, but they have the same shows streaming on those networks’ site. If Hulu could add an option to pay for HBO and Showtime shows I would definitely pay for it.
Everywhere I read this story, there are people reiterating the same things. Some of them good, some of them bad.
“Hulu is easier than finding the shows elsewhere / I don’t have the time to track them down so I’d pay for Hulu”
You’re a sap. Free, pirated content is not hard to find. I’ll tip you off to a web site that you must not know about: Google.com. Go there, type “torrent” followed by the name of the show (i.e. torrent The Office) and click search. Alternatively, type “watch ______” and click search.
“I’d pay if Hulu put the shows up right after they aired”
Their competition – pirate sites – do this already, as well as some of the networks’ own sites. Hulu is behind on this.
I’m already bored of my own post, so I’ll make my point: targeted advertisements. Targeted advertisements make way more money and are less annoying to the end consumer. I don’t want to watch lotion ads. I’d love to watch more video game ads, Mac ads, Windows ads, etc.
Hulu: let me tell you I’m a PC gamer and I’ll let you make more money off of me. In fact, if you tried to sell me something other than fire awareness and random-ass charities, I might actually click the ad.
Using their current setup, they could peg me as a technophile gamer in seconds. Give me a choice between 5 or 6 different “ad experiences” before the show starts rather than the 1 or 2 they offer now. After three or four episodes of NewsRadio, they’d know what I want to see.
The problem is with the execution, not with the revenue model.
Also, please archive better Hulu. And why don’t you link me to a place I can buy your DVDs online after every show? That Amazon link is hardly in my face.
I’d pay for Hulu, but the shows would have to become available earlier than the next day or a week later (House, for instance). There would need to be no ads. They would also need to expand their offerings, but I’m thinking that would be easier for them to do if they started charging directly.
Yes this is the best thing ever.
Hulu charging. Great Hulu.
hulu.com ill not use u anymore..
Google. I think Google should charge 7 dollars a search. That will be great. Like Apple, charging everything. Facebook should charge 6 dollars per view 5 dollars view message, etc
Twitter, 99 cent for a tweet + tax,.. yahoo mail 29.9 for email… yes we will all spend 1000 of dollars for our email facebook tweet and search…
isnt it amazing.
from the future
oct 23 2013 for this post i payed $27+ tax…later they charged me $39…and lets dont forget that if u want to post u need the 5 years subscription.
No i will not i am a huge fan of hulu.com but however i will stop watching it i’ve stop ever since yesterday when i found out it’s bull everything is gonna start charging soon i do hate it i hope they will change there mind maybe then ill start watching it again. . . I wonder if there any agurments about it i wanna know???It would be intresting to find out what will become of Hulu.com they might crash who knows
If they let you download shows from their site for a SMALL fee, maybe I would pay. Otherwise, NOT.
Netflix is less then 5 and 10 dollars, true u do not get to download, but u get to see more of a variety. Plus there are a few other free places on the net. If hulu does charge for downloads, I say 10 dollars a month would be the right price and no more.
Of course I will not pay for Hulu. The internet was made to process information for free. If I want to pay to watch a show “exclusively” I rather pay for Direct T.V/Tivo. I rather sit through the commercials by shrinking the window and directing my attention to something more important. Also, I am sure that as a result their will be other “Hulu” like websites that will emerge and offer their services for free.
How can hulu build a business on being the free alternative to TV and then start charging? I will not pay for hulu, because when i watch it is just for something decent to watch, not because the content is irreplaceable. The world is bursting with free (which is really ad-supported) content, I’ll pick something else.
I would never pay for hulu. Just go the the tv network sites and get it that way or use a service that does not charge. like tv guide or crackle there are places to get your free t.v.
and if hulu starts to charge more sites will pop up for free. see you hulu
There is no way in hell I will pay for Hulu. I really like Hulu and the programs they offer but I only go there because its free and easy to use. Watching the ads don’t bother me because it loads a hell of a lot faster then other sites I have visited and I am willing to watch 2-3 minutes worth of ads for a 45 minute show. If they charge me to watch shows I will get my content elsewhere. Just my two cents on the issue. I also think that Hulu will crash and burn if they go forward with this plan and if they are smart they will figure this out before they kill themselves. If even half the people who watch it now decline to pay to watch then their ad revnue will drop big time because people will pay less as the website is getting less hits. And for website ads number of hits is everything. I can’t believe they would be this stupid.
The content available would have to change dramatically. More access to a greater variety of films and television shows. And the length of time content is available would need to change as well. I would like to see all the existing previous episodes of a series available. If you are unfamiliar with a drama series it is difficult to come in late and understand plot development and character relationships.
I don't watch TV and my television is only used as a monitor for viewing DVDs and old VHS tapes. I doubt I would pay for any television series that I could gain access to in disc form through my local library or watch at a friend's house through their Netflix account.
Most of the film content on Hulu is C or D (or worse) quality level. The clips from movies like “Hair” are ridiculous. I want to see a whole film, not excerpts. They would have to not only cut commercials but raise the bar on quality of content. Yea, I know, I am picky. Put a price tag on the service and just how picky I am raises exponentially.
I Hope Hulu goes bankrupt for this.
If hulu charges a fee they will go into the vast demise of oblivian and will no longer exist! I know I for one will not pay for hulu just as I quit Pandora when they started charging, it’s just too easy to get it free elsewhere!
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Same here, I suppose a weak set of partners means that even if you hate the ad, its better for them than nothing at all.
Well yeah, if you don’t use it, they would hardly expect you to pay for it. ;)
I think that you hit the nail on the head about paying for cable: why pay for two streams that are the same?
What a $5/monthly add on to your cable bill to get Hulu plus?
The two big benefits I find of Hulu are both time-saving magic. I only watch the shows I actually want to watch using the queue, and I save like 7 minutes a show by only having 1 commercial instead of like 2-4 minutes worth of commercials.
I would be willing to pay for Hulu if there wasn’t another convenient free way to get the shows. Its much cheaper than a DVR + Cable, and I get the same if not higher quality shows.
Why should google charge???
Google help me alot before (for free)