The rumors are true — you can now get Hulu (well, most of it) without the ads. You’ll just have to pay more to avoid all those obnoxious, repetitive commercial interruptions.
Starting today, Hulu users can upgrade from the regular $8/month tier that gives them access to the service’s library of TV shows and movies to a commercial-free tier for $12/month.
“Many of our customers have asked us for a commercial free option, and so today we are excited to introduce just that,” said CEO Mike Hopkins in a statement.
“People who avoid ads at all costs were never going to do business with Hulu to begin with, so now we have an entry point to them,” Peter Naylor, Hulu’s Senior VP for Advertising explains to Ad Age.
Additionally, it gives advertisers some assurance that the Hulu users who are watching ads aren’t necessarily screaming “Damn you Hulu and all your stupid ads!” when an episode of Hannibal cuts to commercial.
Hulu, which lags far behind Netflix in terms of subscribers, has been desperately trying to make itself over during the last few months, launching a slate of higher-profile original programming, acquiring the whole Seinfeld archive for streaming, and just this week snatching EPIX (and all its accompanying big-ticket titles) from the jaws of Netflix.
The service has also tried to establish itself as a base to which users can add on other services. Earlier this summer, it allowed subscribers to add on the new Showtime streaming service — which is fully integrated into the Hulu user experience — for a discounted price.
by Chris Morran via Consumerist
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