Users are very familiar with the popular American service Hulu. It provides access to thousands of movies, series, and TV shows by subscription. The streaming platform can be compared to an online movie theater where you can watch your favorite content at any time with an internet connection. The service belongs to Disney Streaming and competes with such giants as Netflix and Max. You can find out more about the history and exclusive projects of the service at la-future.
Launch of the streaming platform
The official launch took place on October 29, 2007. Initially, the service was called Hulu Plus and was a joint project of two media giants, News Corporation (later known as 21st Century Fox) and NBC Universal (which was later acquired by Comcast). It is known that many companies acquired stakes in the service, for example, WarnerMedia AT&T, Providence Equity and Walt Disney Company.
Initially, the streaming platform was created to aggregate and show the latest episodes of popular TV series from the TV channels that belonged to the owners. The main idea was to give viewers who missed certain episodes the opportunity to watch them online at a convenient time. Such a decision became a profitable alternative to illegal piracy. Thus, the service quickly attracted an audience that wanted to watch content legally.
Launch of the subscription service
In 2010, the subscription service called Hulu Plus was launched. This marked the beginning of a new stage in the company’s history. The service was no longer just an aggregator, it had already begun to offer viewers more and more interesting content for a monthly fee. Hulu Plus offered a number of advantages:
- the free version offered access only to the latest episodes, but Hulu Plus provided access to full seasons of popular series, etc.;
- an important advantage was that subscribers no longer had to wait, because episodes became available immediately after they were aired;
- the range of content grew. If before this it was only the works of the main owners, then later films, series and other partner companies were added to the catalog.
The Hulu Plus subscription service has become a full-fledged competitor in the video streaming market. This led to the integration of functions and the renaming into a single Hulu service.
Change of owners
The popular streaming service Hulu began to attract the attention of many large players in the media market. This led to an increase in the number of owners and at the same time allowed subscribers to receive even more diverse content.
In 2017, the owners of the Hulu service decided on a revolutionary step. We are talking about the launch of Hulu with Live TV, which combined traditional streaming video with the ability to watch live TV channels. The consequence of this step was the refusal of many users from cable television. The Hulu service once again expanded its audience and became a universal platform for watching content.
International expansion
Speaking about the history of the formation and expansion, and the gaining of popularity of the Hulu service, it is difficult to miss the attempts at international expansion. In 2011, the company made an attempt to go beyond the domestic, that is, the American market. We are talking about the launch of its services in Japan. This expansion turned out to be short-lived, and in 2014, the Japanese division of Hulu was acquired by the large Japanese television company Nippon TV. Hulu Japan after that separated from its American counterpart. This is an independent service that works exclusively in the Japanese market.
Headquarters in Los Angeles
Hulu’s headquarters are located in Los Angeles, and offices are located in Santa Monica (in the former bureau of the American television network and premium service HBO on the West Coast), in New York and Seattle, Washington.
The name Hulu comes from two Chinese phrases: bottle gourd and interactive recording. Later, Jason Kilar, who held the position of CEO of the company, explained that the name comes from a Chinese proverb. Hulu is a gourd translated from Mandarin. That is why, according to the founders, it was a great name.
Joe Earley is the President of Disney Entertainment’s consumer sales division. He leads the efforts to expand and improve the company’s best-in-class streaming services. To do this, he uses various programming and interaction offers on Disney+ and Hulu.
In January 2019, he joined Disney to control global marketing and operations of Disney+, and in 2021 he was appointed responsible for content curation. In January 2022, Joe Earley took the position of president of Hulu. It is known that the man is a member of ATAS and PGA. He received a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the University of California, Los Angeles.
“First buyer”
In early 2025, Hulu began to place paid advertising content. The first such project was the “First Buyer” shock, funded by the National Association of Realtors. The content is marked as an advertisement, but it is still displayed when viewing the main menu interface of Hulu.
Multi-stage takeover of the company
This process lasted for several years, The Walt Disney Company planned everything in several stages.
- In the first stage in 2019, the company acquired a controlling stake in Hulu as part of a large-scale deal to acquire most of the assets of 21st Century Fox. This acquisition of Hulu affected the service.
- The next step was to absorb the remaining shares of other shareholders from 2019 to 2023. First, it was AT&T’s shares, and then the shares of the rest of the companies belonging to Comcast (the owner of NBC Universal).
- The agreement with Comcast provided for a minimum price for their remaining stake, but The Walt Disney Company paid an additional $438.7 million to complete the deal (until July 24, 2025).
- After gaining a controlling stake in Hulu, The Walt Disney Company began the process of integration into its global streaming strategy. At first, this concerned the distribution of original content from February 2021 (Disney+, available under the Star brand) and integration into Disney+ in December 2023. Subscribers of both services (Hulu and Disney+) could get access to Hulu content from one Disney+ app. Viewers appreciated this step, because it simplified the viewing process and at the same time combined content libraries.
Currently, Hulu is one of the three key streaming services offered as part of the Disney package. This package combines Disney+, Hulu and the sports streaming service ESPN+. Thanks to this, users get access to a truly wide range of content: from family films, series, to sports broadcasts.
On July 28, 2025, the terms of the merger of Disney and FuboTV were revised and accelerated (October 1, 2025 – March 31, 2026).
Flexibility and innovation
In the modern world, companies that know how to adapt to changes, be flexible and develop achieve success. The Hulu streaming service is just such a one, which has gone from a simple aggregator of free TV episodes to a multifunctional service. Users have access to video on demand and live broadcasts.
Hulu is a leading premium streaming service. It is one of the key players in the media market, as the number of users exceeds 55.5 million people (as of August 6, 2025).