Hulu May Not Use a Pay Only Subscription
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Hulu, video, Streaming, Pay, Carey | Themes: The Internet, Software
an industry insider says that Hulu isn't going pay-only.
So is Hulu going to charge users for its streaming video service? That was the case weeks ago, as News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey said that the current free model was very difficult in capturing the "value" of the site's content. There was even an indication that Hulu would start charging some kind of fee for content as early as 2010.
But that may or may not be the case. Entertainment Weekly reports that Hulu will continue to remain free of content fees. Based on an inside source close to the video streaming website, any possible pay-per-view or subscription service would only build upon Hulu, not replace it. But for now, there is no set timeline for any kind of payment system.
Last month Carey clearly indicated that charging for every video on Hulu would be the answer even though the industry needs to receive payment for broadcasting online content. However, he did mention Hulu Mobile or "specially-created content and TV previews" as means to help carry the financial burden. Streaming content from HBO and other pay-channels would work as well, or perhaps selling downloadable video content such as movies and TV episodes.
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PLEASE keep it free. my parents (im 15 not a 30 year old loser living w/ my mom) canceled our cable w/ Time Warner (they sucked and charges escalated) and hulu has all the cool stuff.
I wonder how Apple will compete with its $30/mo model if they ever implement it.
I'd rather watch 3x as many ads if it was that vs paying.
no adds, full 1080p quality, exclusive content, and I am willing to pay!
no adds, full 1080p quality, exclusive content, and I am willing to pay!
By exclusive you mean pr0nz?
I rarely ever use Hulu as I don't watch tv, but the service should remain free to those who do. Just offer a premium service that costs a monthly fee with stm1185's suggestions. GG Hulu.
I already pay my outrageous cable bill, not they want to charge me twice for the same content? I hate that as soon as there is this new, cool, FREE thing out there, some asshole comes along and thinks...how can I make more money off of this? For the longest time I thought Hulu was too good to be true and I never even checked it out. I love it now, but no way in hell I am paying for it.
Back in the mid-90s, a lot of websites tried to get people to pay for content and failed miserably. That is why ads began appearing on websites. If Hulu can't figure this out, then I'm pretty sure there will be competing sites that can.
So, the few times I watched Hulu on my 360 using PlayOn, the movies had commercials. Isn't THAT the revenue source to rely on? I can't complain a lot about unedited movies that have commercials...
What I don't get is... they can require you to answer two simple questions like age and sex, as long as it's anonymous of course, and target ads accordingly. This should be an amazing marketing tool. Google has made an empire out of making money off of context sensitive advertising. Why can't News Corp and NBC?
I am also willing to pay a reasonable subscription fee but the worry I have is that of having to pay for bandwidth down the road and a subscription fee. Not an issue now but if you pay $50/mo for say 100GB and a fee to hulu, regular cable is looking better again and their business model will fall flat. I hope that does not happen but is something we should consider. Additionally, if I am going to pay a fee, then I want to be able to access that content at the same time it would normally be airing, not the next day. The daily show is just not quite the same the day after. It's like cold pizza, some people love it, some people hate it and I am of the latter.
What I don't get is... they can require you to answer two simple questions like age and sex, as long as it's anonymous of course, and target ads accordingly.
They already know my age and sex but I still get ads for feminine products of which I will not ever buy, perplexing...but back when they had those Reeses ads playing btwn every show, I'll be damned that it made me want a fricken Reeses every 10 minutes!
I think Hulu would do well to stay off the pay-as-you go service, there have been companies that issued this policy only to fail miserably as mentioned before. As a long time Hulu user i would definately stop watching the site if it were to change, these pay as you go features ruin audiences, just look at pandora..it used to be cool.
@major7up so its basically just like having cable?