Hopkins: Hulu Plus Surpasses 6 Million Subs

Streaming service Hulu Plus has surpassed the 6 million subscriber mark and reached revenue of more than $1 billion dollars in 2013, Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins announced during the OTT service's upfront presentation in New York Wednesday.

The OTT service also said it has greenlit a second season of its original series Deadbeat, joining previously announced new seasons for other original series The Awesomes, Behind the Mask, Quick Draw and East Los High. Hopkins in a blog post added that the network plans to more than triple its content marketing budget to “grow awareness for and interest in Hulu originals.”

On the advertising front, Hulu announced it has partnered with Pizza Hut to develop an in-stream purchase unit in which customers can order from the pizza chain within while watching the service. The company has also partnered with audience measurement company comScore to receive muti-platform measurement at an individual viewer level and co-viewership measurement for living room devices.

Hulu this summer will also make a selection of ad-supported TV episodes on mobile devices for free, said company officials.  

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.