Hulu just fixed its most annoying feature to try and compete with Netflix
Elsa/Getty ImagesHulu announced Wednesday that it will roll out a $12 dollar per month ad-free version, similar to plans offered by Netflix and Amazon, The New York Times reports.
Before today, Hulu had been unusual among its competitors by offering absolutely no commercial-free option. And Mike Hopkins, Hulu's CEO, thinks this was alienating some users.
"You can split people into two categories: ad avoiders and ad acceptors," Hopkins told The New York Times. "There are clearly people who just are not going to buy Hulu because there are ads. We think we can bring them back into the fold with new content and this new choice."
Starting Wednesday, Hulu users will be able to pay either $8 a month to watch its content with advertisements, or $12 a month to watch without. Hulu's very limited free service will also continue. For comparison, Netflix's normal subscription plan is $8 a month - and is always commercial free.
There is one caveat to this new plan, however, as VentureBeat points out. Due to "streaming rights" certain shows will have short commercials before and after each episode, even on its "ad-free" plan. These shows are: "Grey's Anatomy, Once Upon A Time, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Scandal, New Girl, Grimm, and How To Get Away With Murder."
At nine million subscribers, Hulu has significantly less market share than Netflix, which has 21 million paid subscribers in the U.S. alone. But Hulu is making moves.
Hulu also recently picked up a licensing deal Netflix dropped with Epix, which will bring blockbusters like "The Hunger Games" and "Transformers" to its service.
And Hulu isn't the only streaming service that is trying to mold itself into a stronger competitor against Netflix. Yesterday, Amazon announced a new offline viewing option for movies and TV shows. This is a feature a Netflix executive has vowed will never be available to Netflix users.