Hit series ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ helps Hulu top 20 million subscribers
Video-on-demand service – co-owned by four media giants, including Walt Disney and 21st Century Fox – growing faster in US than rival Netflix, it says
The video-on-demand service, Hulu, has surpassed 20 million subscribers thanks to interest in original programmes such as The Handmaid’s Tale and a live television service.
Hulu, which is owned by four media giants – Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, Comcast and Time Warner – has added at least three million customers since January, when the company said it had reached 17 million subscribers.
That meant Hulu was growing quicker in the United States than any other pay-TV service, including Netflix, the company said.
Once primarily an outpost for television reruns, Hulu scored its first original hit last year with an adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel set in a dystopian future.
The company has just released the second season of the show and has renewed it for a third.
“Hulu has the creativity and resources to go head-to-head with anyone – and win,” CEO Randy Freer said in New York on Wednesday.
Hulu has the creativity and resources to go head-to-head with anyone – and win
Freer, a long-time executive at Fox, joined Hulu last year.
Hulu is spending a couple of billion dollars a year on programming, a sum comparable to other major TV networks – although only a fraction of the amount that rival Netflix pays out.