US OTT TV service Hulu announced that it’s passed 28 million subscribers, including 26.8 million monthly paid subscribers and 1.3 million promotional accounts. The company last reported over 25 million subscribers at the end of 2018. The figures were announced at an event in New York where Hulu also revealed details of new content and advertising offerings.
New content includes two live-action series from Marvel Television, owned by Hulu’s shareholder Disney. Marvel’s Ghost Rider and Marvel’s Helstrom are slated to debut on Hulu in 2020. In addition, Hulu announced a multi-year partnership with Vox Media Studios, David Chang’s Majordomo Media, and Chrissy Teigen’s Suit & Thai Productions to develop and produce a slate of premium food-centric programming for the platform. Among the first projects will be a cooking show featuring Chang and Teigen.
Hulu also green-lighted the series ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’, based on the book of the same name by Liane Moriarty and with the participation of Nicole Kidman, David E. Kelley, Bruna Papandrea and Per Saar. The company also confirmed an order for ‘The Dropout’, a limited series executive produced and starring Kate McKinnon, inspired by the ABC News podcast on the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos. The comedy series Pen15, Ramy and Shrill also will have second series on Hulu.
For advertisers, Hulu announced it is increasing its investment in non-intrusive ad formats with what it calls the industry’s first binge advertising experience. The new format will make it possible for marketers to target binge viewers with a creative that is situationally relevant to their viewing behavior. Hulu also announced it will expand the availability of its pause ad experiencebeginning in August.