Hulu had a big year in 2011 and they want everybody to know.
Hulu posted the results of last year on their blog while offering some hints on what the future will hold for the online television streaming service.
Hulu has grown to be a big boy with a 60 percent increase from last year. They approximately made $420 million in revenue. They are especially proud of their growth in spite of a slow economy in the latter half of 2011. Along those lines, their ad business grew along with their Hulu Plus business.
Speaking of Hulu Plus, the service now boasts 1.5 million paying subscribers. The number continues to grow at a fast clip. They boast that they reached 1.5 million subscribers faster than any other video subscription service. They are also attracting two times the number of subscribers each day compared to last year. They also expect Hulu Plus to make up half of their overall business later this year.
In 2011, Hulu expanded the content available to their customers by quite a lot. Their content offering grew 40 percent over last year. Their Hulu Plus content grew by an astounding 105 percent. They also boast that Hulu Plus is the only online video subscription service that offers current season content from five out of the 6 largest U.S. broadcast networks.
The company introduced apps last year that allowed users to access the service from a variety of devices including the Xbox 360, Kindle Fire, NOOK tablet, Android smartphones, LG, Panasonic and Vizio TVs and Blu-ray players.
The Hulu advertising service led the online advertising market last year with the largest market share. They have served over 1,000 brand advertisers. They also claim to have the most effective video advertising with tools that allow users to decide what ads they see.
These figures as well as having just launched in Japan leave the company feeling pretty giddy. They are being somewhat mum though on what the future holds. They do offer their conviction that digital is the future of television and video content. They also claim that due to their dual revenue stream with Hulu Plus, they are able to pay content providers 50 percent more in licensing fees. They believe this will help them secure more content in 2012. To that end, the company announced that they are investing half a billion dollars in content for 2012.
Are you a Hulu fan? Are you excited about their investment plan for 2012? Let us know in the comments.