According to acting CEO Andy Forssell, Hulu is had a hell of a start to 2013.
In a blog post, Forssell says that Hulu set a new record for revenue in Q1, and that for the first time ever, Hulu users streamed over 1 billion videos in a single quarter. Coming of a year when subscription to Hulu Plus doubled, Forssell says that Hulu’s premium service topped 4 million subscribers in Q1.
Forsell also has this to say about where Hulu users are streaming content:
“Mobile viewing is growing at a significant rate and will account for approximately 15% of Hulu’s consumed videos in 2013-2014. For context, mobile viewing was nonexistent on our service only two years ago. Living room viewing is also growing; it currently accounts for 29% of Hulu’s content consumption, and 80% of Hulu Plus subscribers have watched with someone else.”
With stats out of the way, Forssell went on to announce two new Hulu original series, Quick Draw and East Los High. The former is “a comedic half-hour western set in 1875 that centers on a Harvard-educated sheriff and his quest to introduce the emerging science of forensics to an unruly Kansas town,” while the latter is an all-Latino cast English language drama set in an inner city high school.
These new series joins nearly a dozen Hulu exclusive series heading to the service this summer. Also, Hulu just launched new seasons of All My Children and One Life to Live.
Of course, much of this patting itself on the pack is a direct pitch to advertisers. Mainly, “Look! We have 4 million Hulu Plus subscribers who are paying to see your ads!”
“Our advertising mission is to be the world’s most effective video advertising service, and we are well on our way. According to comScore, Hulu is #1 in engagement among top ad supported sites. Hulu viewers stay with us for 45 minutes per session—without fast-forwarding or skipping ads. Hulu is also #1 in market share of all premium online video providers, delivering 1 in 3 of all premium video ads in the U.S. Our reasonable ad load drives the highest recall and awareness for brands, which results in higher effectiveness for the video ads,” says Forssell.
But it’s a strong pitch, especially for a company that is in a highly-competitive industry. The streaming video sector is booming, and Hulu is staying above the fray and setting records.