The subscription option, reportedly known as “NOAH” (“No Ads Hulu”) internally, would be priced between $12 and $14 per month, the Wall Street Journal reports, and could launch as soon as this fall. But it isn’t intended to supplant the service’s ad-supported, $8 per month tier — sources told the publication that Hulu is searching for ways to “make advertising more relevant to viewers” (likely a indicating targeted ads).
The impetus behind NOAH’s development is the sustained momentum of competing services from Netflix and Amazon, neither of which feature advertising. Hulu’s paying subscribers currently number around nine million, a number dwarfed by Netflix’s global base of 65 million. And
That success, some might argue, is partly due to the popularity of Netflix’s original series. Hulu, which is co-owned by network players Comcast, Disney, and 20th Century Fox, has countered in part by shelling out a whopping $180 million for the complete Seinfeld series. In addition, the service has recently inked content partnerships with networks like AMC, Time Warner, and Discovery. However, a breakthrough original series remains elusive. Poor critical reception for its current crop of series hasn’t helped matters —
Hulu has attempted to differentiate itself from the competition in other areas, teaming up with Showtime to offer the premium network’s self-titles stand-alone streaming service at a slightly discounted rate of $9 per month.
Those moves point to Hulu’s ambitions for expansion: the service wants to be just as big as Amazon Prime Instant Video and Netflix. But it’s not clear an expensive ad-free subscription tier will help it to achieve that goal. At the reported high end ($14), NOAH verges on premium network territory — HBO Now is just a dollar more at $15 per month. Would TV watchers value ad-free Seinfeld reruns that highly? We may soon find out.
