Online video site Hulu is on pace to generate more than $240 million in revenue this year, more than double the $108 million in 2009.
The announcement Wednesday comes about five months after Hulu launched a $10-per-month subscription plan called Hulu Plus, which allows consumers to watch entire back seasons of shows from NBC, Fox and ABC such as “30 Rock,” ”Glee,” and “Modern Family.”
CEO Jason Kilar said, however, that most of the site’s revenue still comes from advertising. He said Hulu attracted 352 advertisers in the third quarter, including all the country’s top 25.
Kilar did not touch on profitability when he disclosed the revenue figures at a conference in San Francisco. In June, he told The Associated Press that Hulu had posted net income for two straight quarters and expected to do so again in the three months through June. He did not say then how much the earnings were.
Hulu is jointly owned by General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal, Fox owner News Corp., ABC owner The Walt Disney Co. and Providence Equity Partners.
At the NewTeeVee Live conference, in comments that were streamed online, Kilar highlighted several ways that Hulu was trying to make ads more effective.
The site allows viewers to choose which ads they’d like to watch; polls them about their purchasing intentions; gives them the choice of watching longer ads in exchange for fewer interruptions later; and promotes other shows that are favored by fans of the show on the screen.
Ads on Hulu are 55 percent more effective than ads on traditional TV channels when measuring whether consumers remembered the brand and the message shown, he said. That means advertisers get more for their money, and content owners will eventually be paid more, he said.
“We think that brand advertisers, in time, will be far less willing to pay for the waste that they’ve actually paid for over the last 60 years,” Kilar said. “So this will be disruptive to existing brand advertising services and in the process, significant value will be created.”
Research firm eMarketer estimates that U.S. revenue from advertising attached to online videos will grow 48 percent this year to $1.51 billion and another 43 percent to $2.15 billion next year.
Stars Among Those Who Lost Their Homes In L.A. Area Fires; Jamie Lee Curtis Pledges $1M To Relief Effort
Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Jeff Bridges, and R&B star Jhené Aiko, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week's Oscar nominations have been delayed. And tens of thousands of Angelenos are displaced and awaiting word Thursday on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city's most famous denizens. Thousands of structures have been destroyed but damage assessments are just beginning. More than 180,000 people are also under evacuation orders in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, a number that continues to shift as new fires erupt. Late Wednesday, a fire in the Hollywood Hills was scorching the hills near the famed Hollywood Bowl and Dolby Theatre, which is the home of the Academy Awards. That fire had been largely contained without damage to Hollywood landmarks. Here are how the fires are impacting celebrities and the Los Angeles entertainment industry: Stars whose homes have burned in the fires Celebrities like Crystal and his wife, Janice, were sharing memories of the homes they lost. The Crystals lost the home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood that they lived in for 45 years. "Janice and I lived in our home since 1979. We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can't be taken away. We are heartbroken of course but with the love of our children and friends we will get through this," the Crystals wrote in the statement. After her learning her Pacific Palisades home was lost in the fires, Melissa Rivers says she was... Read More