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The story
Founded by Jason Kilar on Mar 2007.1
History
Early years (2007–2010)
Individuals who were instrumental in the founding of Hulu include Bruce Campbell, Peter Chernin, JB Perrette, Mike Lang, Beth Comstock, George Kliavkoff, Darren Feher, and Jason Kilar. Rus Yusupov, the lead designer on Hulu's original design team, played a key role in shaping the platform's initial interface and user experience. Hulu was announced in March 2007 with AOL, NBC Universal (then co-owned by General Electric and Vivendi), MSN, Myspace (then owned by News Corporation), and Yahoo! planned as "initial distribution partners." Hulu first release was on October 27, 2007, which was the video syndication player that was developed by the NBC Engineering team led by Tom Sharma. Jason Kilar was named Hulu CEO in late 2007. NBC shut down its earlier online video effort NBBC in order to focus on Hulu.
The name Hulu was chosen in late August 2007, when the website went live with an announcement only and no content. It invited users to leave their email addresses for the upcoming beta test. In October 2007, Hulu began the private beta testing by invitation, and later allowed users to invite friends. Hulu launched for public access in the United States on March 12, 2008.
Hulu began an advertising campaign during NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII with an initial ad starring Alec Baldwin titled "Alec in Huluwood." Advertisements have since aired featuring Eliza Dushku, Seth MacFarlane, Denis Leary, and Will Arnett.
In July 2007, Providence Equity, the owner of Newport Television, became one of the earliest "outside" investors by purchasing a 10% stake in the company for US$100 million equity investment, before the company was known as "Hulu." With its investment came a seat on the board of directors, where Providence was said to act as an "independent voice on the board." In April 2009, the Walt Disney Company joined the Hulu consortium as a stakeholder, with plans to offer content from ABC, ESPN and Disney Channel.
Multiple joint ventures (2010–2019)
Early in 2010, Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar said the service had made a profit in two quarters and that the company could top $100 million in revenue by summer 2010, more than its income for all of 2009. ComScore says monthly video streams reached 903 million in January 2010, over three times the figure for a year earlier, and second only to YouTube. On August 16, 2010, a report revealed that Hulu was planning an initial public offering (IPO) which could value the company at more than $2 billion.
In June 2011, an "unsolicited offer" caused Hulu to begin "weighing whether to sell itself". However, Hulu and its owners refused to sell the company, as none of the bidders offered an amount that was satisfactory to its owners. In September of that year, the service launched in Japan; marking Hulu's first and only international expansion.
Hulu generated $420 million in revenue in 2011, $80 million short of the company's target. The vacant CEO post was officially filled by former Fox Networks President Mike Hopkins on October 17, 2013.
In October 2012, Providence sold its 10% stake to "Hulu's media owners" and ceased participation in the board. On February 27, 2014, Nippon Television Network Corporation acquired Hulu's Japanese business. The service would retain the "Hulu" brand and technology in Japan under a subsidiary of Nippon as part of a separate agreement.
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On August 3, 2016, Time Warner acquired a 10% stake of Hulu. Hopkins exited and was named Sony Pictures TV Chairman. Fox Networks Group COO Randy Freer was named CEO on October 24, 2017.
Disney majority ownership (2019–2023)
On March 20, 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox, giving it a 60% majority stake in Hulu. On April 15, 2019, AT&T sold its 10% stake in Hulu back to the company for $1.43 billion, leaving Disney with 67% and Comcast with 33%. Comcast, the only other shareholder, announced on May 14, 2019, that it had agreed to cede its control to Disney, and reached an agreement for Disney to purchase its 33% stake in Hulu as early as 2024.
On May 14, 2019, Comcast relinquished its control in Hulu to Disney effective immediately. As a result, the streaming service became a division of Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI) with Comcast effectively becoming a silent partner. Under the agreement, Comcast's 33% stake could be sold to Disney at fair market value as early as 2024. The fair market value would be determined at that time, but Disney guaranteed a minimum valuation of the entire company at $27.5 billion (valuing the Comcast stake as worth at least $9.075 billion). Randy Freer would report to Disney executive Kevin Mayer.
Disney stated that its control of Hulu was the third major component of its direct-to-consumer strategy, complementing its sports streaming service ESPN+, and its then-forthcoming Disney+. Hulu would be oriented towards "general" entertainment and content targeting mature audiences. NBCUniversal would continue to license its content to the service through at least 2024, but had the option to begin transitioning its exclusivity deals with Hulu to non-exclusive terms beginning in 2020, and to end other content deals beginning in 2022.
On July 31, 2019, Disney reorganized Hulu's reporting structure, placing Hulu's Scripted Originals team under Disney General Entertainment Content. Under the new structure, Hulu's SVP of Original Scripted Content would report directly to the chairman of Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment. As of November 2019, FX and Fox Searchlight were assigned to supply Hulu with content. In January 2020, Disney eliminated the role of Hulu CEO, with its top executives to report directly to DTCI and Walt Disney Television. On January 31, 2020, Freer resigned as CEO of Hulu and the position was eliminated; Hulu's top executives now report directly to DTCI and Walt Disney Television.
In June 2021, Comcast accused Disney of undermining Hulu's growth and value by not engaging in international expansion of the service, having instead added the Star brand as an extension of Disney+ in selected markets.
On September 7, 2021, Hulu announced that the prices of its main video on-demand and ad-free plans would increase by $1 each to $6.99 and $12.99 per-month beginning October 8. In October 2021, Hulu president Kelly Campbell resigned, and was subsequently appointed the president of NBCUniversal's competing service Peacock.
On November 22, 2021, Disney and WarnerMedia reached a deal to let select 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures films stream on Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max in 2022. In March 2022, NBCUniversal decided that it would pull content from Hulu and move it to Peacock, beginning in September. In January 2022, Joe Earley became president of Hulu.
In September 2022, Chapek indicated that Disney was considering merging Hulu into Disney+ because the model had been successful outside the United States without any content friction. To accelerate the plan, he said that Disney would love to buy out Comcast's 33.3% stake in Hulu earlier than their previously agreed 2024 timeline. However, Comcast had not offered reasonable terms for an early buyout and had instead expressed interest in buying Hulu themselves if it were for sale.
On May 18, 2023, it was announced that Disney+ and Hulu would remove nearly 60 original films and series on May 26 in order to "cut costs." The news sparked some backlash, mostly towards the initial decision to remove Howard, the documentary on the life of lyricist Howard Ashman, on the eve of Pride Month and the release of the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. However, it was confirmed the next day that film would remain available on the service.
On July 10, 2023, Hulu launched an adult animation and anime hub known as Animayhem, featuring several different 20th Television Animation programs, including American Dad, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and King of the Hill, among various others. Additionally, new seasons of Futurama and King of the Hill were commissioned for the service, while the company also showcased an "immersive" experience at San Diego Comic-Con to promote the occasion, titled Hulu Animayhem: Into the Second Dimension. The hub was also launched on Disney+ internationally the following year.
Disney full ownership (2023–present)
On September 6, 2023, Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts announced that Hulu's equity fair value would be assessed as of September 30. In November 2023, Disney began their acquisition of Comcast's stake in Hulu. The two companies previously agreed to a minimum floor price of $8.6 billion, which was paid for on December 1. As of August 2024, Disney and Comcast remained in a dispute over Hulu's valuation in connection with fully completing the transaction, with an arbitration decision expected in 2025. On June 9, 2025, both parties resolved the dispute, with Disney paying Comcast an extra $438.7 million in addition to the minimum floor price for their remaining stake of Hulu, closing on or before July 24, 2025.
On December 6, 2023, Disney began to roll out a beta test integration of Hulu as a content hub on the Disney+ platform for subscribers to both services, which officially launched on March 27, 2024. On August 6, 2025, Disney announced that it would discontinue the standalone Hulu apps and completely merge the service into the Disney+ platform. Hulu still remains available as a standalone subscription, but its content is accessed from a new "unified" app released in 2026. In addition, Disney replaced the Star brand on Disney+ in international markets with Hulu on October 8, 2025. On April 8, 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported that the staff for Hulu and Disney+ would be combined and as the planned merger of both brands into a single app continues, and as part of larger cost-cutting measures within the Walt Disney Company. On May 19, 2026, Disney announced that eligible Hulu-only subscribers could now sign in to Disney+ using their MyDisney account and also introduced a new profile import feature on Disney+, where users could import their Hulu watch history, watchlist, and recommendations directly into Disney+. Disney also confirmed that it had no current plans to shut down the standalone Hulu app. The only standalone app to shut down was the Nintendo Switch app on February 5, 2026. Despite Disney's previous comment regarding the status of the Hulu app, on May 28, 2026, Business Insider reported on an internal Disney document that outlined a multi-phase plan by the name "Project Gemini" for transitioning Hulu content and features into the Disney+ app, with the Hulu tech stack and app being decommissioned once all users have been transitioned to the unified Disney+ app by the end of 2026.
On September 30, 2025, stockholders of FuboTV approved a planned merger of the company with Hulu + Live TV to form a larger company that would be controlled by Disney. The deal called for Fubo to merge with Hulu + Live TV, a sister platform to the Hulu streaming app, with Disney owning approximately 70% of the newly expanded entity, with Fubo shareholders retaining the rest. Fubo's existing management team, led by co-founder and CEO David Gandler would run the new Fubo. Fubo and Hulu + Live TV would continue to be available to consumers as separate offerings post-close. Fubo said it expected the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2025 or the first quarter of 2026. On October 29, 2025, Disney completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Fubo, which made it the No. 6 pay-television operator in the United States when combined with Hulu + Live TV.
Original content
From January 17, 2011, to April 24, 2014, Hulu streamed its own in-house web series The Morning After, a light-hearted pop-culture news show. It was produced by Hulu in conjunction with Jace Hall's HDFilms and stars Brian Kimmet and Ginger Gonzaga. Producing the show was a first for the company, which in the past has been primarily a content distributor.
On January 16, 2012, Hulu announced that it would be airing its first original script based program, titled Battleground, which premiered in February 2012. The program aired on Hulu's free web service rather than on the subscription-based Hulu Plus. Battleground is described as a documentary-style political drama.
Later that same month, Hulu announced it would air The Fashion Fund, a six-part reality series, and the winner of the show would receive $300,000 to start their career.
To continue with its original programming movement, Hulu announced that there would be a total of seven original programs that were planned to air on its service: Battleground, Day in the Life, and Up to Speed were previously mentioned; and on April 19, Hulu added four more shows to its list: Don't Quit Your Daydream, Flow, The Awesomes, and We Got Next. Some of these programs began airing in 2012, while others premiered over the next few years.
On May 21, 2012, Hulu announced it would be bringing Kevin Smith to its lineup of original programming. Smith hosts a movie discussion show titled Spoilers, which began airing in mid-2012.
In March 2016, Lionsgate Premiere and Hulu jointly acquired distribution rights to the film Joshy, which was later released on August 12, 2016.
On May 4, 2016, Hulu acquired The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, as its first documentary acquisition, as part of a planned Hulu Documentary Films collection. The film premiered theatrically on September 15, before debuting on the streaming service on September 17.
On March 3, 2025, Hulu streamed the 97th Academy Awards in simulcast with ABC, making the first time that the Oscars were streamed on the platform. However, the airing was plagued with multiple technical problems. These included some server outages in the beginning of the award ceremony, as well as the live event ending just before the Best Actress nominees were announced.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hulu, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4