Streaming service Hulu said today that it is now a $1 billion company. It has also reached 5 million users.
In a blog post, CEO Mike Hopkins, a former Fox executive who got the job in October, said that Hulu’s projected revenue for 2013 is $1 billion, up significantly from 2012’s $695 million. Hopkins said that this is a great start for the company, which only opened up for beta testing in 2008.
The company is also up to 5 million paid subscribers with around half of them using devices other than their computers, like an XBox 360, Playstation 3 and other Wi-Fi connected products. Subscribers pay $7.99 a month to use the Hulu+ service.
Clearly, Fox, Disney and NBCUniversal made a good decision by not selling the service in July. Instead, the three decided to invest more money, to help Hulu better compete with Netflix. Like its competitor, Hulu has added its own original content and secured streaming deals with the Criterion Collection and the BBC. Among the recently added shows is The Awesomes, co-created by Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyers.
Hulu said today that it is up to 488 content partners with 6,000 TV episodes, 2,900 TV series, and 68,000 hours of video available.
Unlike Netflix, Hulu does show commercials during television episodes. Hopkins said that they now have 1,000 brands advertising on Hulu.
image: Hulu screenshot