AfterDawn: News

Hulu almost break even, says Zucker

Popular online video Hulu is close to profitability, or at least breaking even, says NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker.

The site, a joint venture between Fox, NBCU and Disney, now “has to figure out the monetization game,” says Zucker, who adds that subscriptions are a possibility, in an effort to boost revenue.



Hulu has seen exponential growth over the last year, rocketing to the third most popular video site in the world.

Zucker continued that the goal of the site is to eventually have all shows online, but the question would be how many episodes of each show would be available at any given time.

Is Hulu looking for another equity partner? Yes, but Zucker doesn't believe they will find one, as Time Warner and CBS have their own plans for online video.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 1 Jun 2009 3:36

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• 7 comments

• jookycola

  Sorry i like Hulu....but...if i had to pay for it forget it. Why would anyone pay a subscription to watch FREE tv shows???
  
  In this day and age of DVR's it would be unwise for hulu to start charging. I can watch Southland for free on TV, record it on my DVR and re watch it...or even download it in a torrent. ALL FOR FREE. why would i pay a subscription to watch the same free show?

  1.6.2009 14:32 #1

• cart0181

  Originally posted by jookycola: Sorry i like Hulu....but...if i had to pay for it forget it. Why would anyone pay a subscription to watch FREE tv shows???
  
  In this day and age of DVR's it would be unwise for hulu to start charging. I can watch Southland for free on TV, record it on my DVR and re watch it...or even download it in a torrent. ALL FOR FREE. why would i pay a subscription to watch the same free show?I'm pretty sure the subscriptions they're talking about here would be optional, and would add certain benefits, such as reduced commercials/ads and/or higher quality feeds or QoS. Obviously, forcing everyone to now pay for what they had previously received for free would destroy the company.

  1.6.2009 17:09 #2

• lamain

  If the commercials were gone and the selection was larger (much larger)I would pay a monthly fee. I pay for Netflix now so they would need a larger selection then Netflix has.

  1.6.2009 17:14 #3

• cart0181

  Originally posted by lamain: If the commercials were gone and the selection was larger (much larger)I would pay a monthly fee. I pay for Netflix now so they would need a larger selection then Netflix has.I don't think Netflix and Hulu consider each other competition, since Hulu doesn't rent DVDs or Blurays (to my knowledge). But you're right, perhaps Hulu could be a threat with a large enough Hollywood selection.

  1.6.2009 19:14 #4

• atomicxl

  I wouldn't be willing to pay too much. I don't mind the service as is so I don't know how they could get me to do too much. I'd be down for like $19.99 a year, but they'd have to really step their game up and start getting even more content.

  1.6.2009 23:53 #5

• geraldz

  SPAM removed

  2.6.2009 07:44 #6

• ZippyDSM

  How do you break even when you pay for the site and put your own stuff and advertisements on it??...mmmm I wonder.... I mean all but for most of the bandwidth your doing it all yourself...

  3.6.2009 16:43 #7