Hulu is moving its free service over to Yahoo as the company looks to drive more subscription sales.
The Hulu gravy train is officially out of service. Users accustomed to limited, ad-supported free video content on Hulu will have to pony up for a full subscription if they want to continue streaming. The company--whose stakeholders include 21 Century Fox, Comcast, Disney, and most recently Time Warner--announced it will end its nine-year run of offering free episodes of television shows.
While this means Hulu proper is moving to a full subscription-based model, the streaming service is really shifting its free model over to Yahoo’s newly launched video site, Yahoo View. In a partnership with Hulu, Yahoo View is offering ad-supported TV-streaming for the five most recent episodes of shows from ABC, NBC and Fox. Episodes will hit Yahoo View eight days after airing on linear TV. Clips, shows from other networks, and international programming will also be housed on Yahoo View, meaning Hulu is essentially shifting its entire free streaming service over to Yahoo.
The announcement comes in the midst of a major shakeup at Yahoo. The company was recently sold to Verizon for $4.8 billion after years of declining ad revenue.
Hulu aims to take on competitors like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video by offering tiered options for its streaming service. Hulu costs $7.99 per month with commercials, and $11.99 per month for the ad-free version. Both Netflix and Amazon are ad-free with a subscription.
H/T: Variety
