Hulu -- July 30, 2022

At this post, I compared the most recent earnings quarters for XOM and AAPL. It was a very, very superficial comparison, but even so, some interesting data points fall out. 

From that post:

• Apple has a record 813 million pad subscribers to its various streaming and music services;
• compare this to Hulu with 39 million subscribers
• Disney valued Hulu at $16 billion in 2019 when it agreed to acquire the rest of it from Comcast
• Hulu revenue, 2021: $10 billion; a 33% increase on the previous year.

And, of course, that led me to Hulu's most recent revenue and usage statistics (2022), posted June 27, 2022.

Before going there, note something else: this information is being hosted by something called "business of apps," home page here; and "about us" here. This is just incredible what folks are doing, this one based outside of London.

Back to Hulu at that link. It begins:

Video streaming service Hulu started its life with major backing from new and old media, receiving investment and content from NBC Universal, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo in 2007 before launching early in 2008.

Hulu entanglement with the media conglomerates of America placed it in stark contrast to Netflix, which while subservient to the licensing demands of the industry, is considered an independent operator. For most of its existence, the majority of Hulu was owned by one or several media companies, ending with Disney acquiring a majority share in 2019. 

This perception of Hulu as a place film and TV studios dump content is a misconception, created during the era when several media companies had stakes in the company but did not want to launch any new titles on it. Before that period it was competitive with Netflix, attempting to break new ground with innovative online partnerships. 

What's interesting about this, this platform will out-wiki Wikipedia over time for those interested in investing. 

Sadly for Hulu, it was always in the shadow of Netflix, as its rival added millions of customers every year in North America, Europe and South America. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video both launched original TV series in 2015, another move that pushed the video streaming services away from old media’s control. 

It would take Hulu two years to copy Netflix and Prime Video’s model, launching The Handmaid’s Tale in 2017. It became an instant hit for the streaming service, and provided Hulu with a way to rebrand as a content producer in its own right, instead of an aggregator of old television shows and movies. 

As Hulu started to gain traction through its original series, Disney began to acquire more of it from other media conglomerates. First came the acquisition of 30 percent of Hulu from 21st Century Fox, then a month later AT&T sold 10 percent of the company to Disney. A month after that, Comcast announced it would sell its 33 percent share to Disney by 2024, ceding full control. 

And then, everything from there.

At the "investors" tab at the top of the blog

• Streaming: link here. Streaming wars.

Apple has a long, long way to go to meet / beat Hulu but like everything about Apple, whatever it does becomes part of the Apple eco-system where everything connects seamlessly. 

But look at that:

• Hulu: 40 million paid subscribers
• Apple: trending toward a billion paid subscribers

And, yes, I know, that's comparing apples to oranges, but don't get me started. LOL.