Hulu heading for 1m paying subscribers
US VOD giant shows growth
US video on demand giant Hulu has announced that it will hit one million subscribers this year, and expects revenue of around $500 million (£307m).
As TechRadar revealed recently, Hulu is still insistent that it can be a global force, despite a failure to secure the right content deals to launch itself in the UK.
In the meantime, the company – consisting of three major US television networks - is not suffering too badly from its limited market.
Stats
In a blog post, Hulu's CEO Jason Kilar picked out some interesting statistics from the first quarter of 2011.
"We are on track to exceed 1 million Hulu Plus subscribers in 2011 (up from 0 in 2010)," wrote Kilar. "To our knowledge, this is the fastest start of any online video subscription service.
"We are on pace to approach half a billion dollars in revenue in 2011. In Q1, our revenue grew approximately 90 per cent over Q1 2010. (Hulu did $263 million in revenue for all of 2010.)
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"It is still very early days for online video and our biggest opportunities/challenges are clearly still in front of us."
The UK market, however, may prove too difficult a nut to crack, with major companies like Sky and the terrestrial broadcasters willing to splash the cash to secure the top American series that have become the lifeblood of Hulu in its home market.
And, of course, there is the 800 pound gorilla that is the BBC iPlayer - the dominant force in UK video on demand.
Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content. After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.