Fans of the streaming service Hulu just got some great news, that it’s lowering the price of one of its main packages — but why is the drop happening?
On Wednesday, Hulu announced that they are lowering the price of their basic subscription plan from $7.99 down to $5.99. This is the plan that includes commercials.
While the idea of commercials bothers some consumers, they just play before the movies and television episodes start streaming and don’t happen in the middle like on regular TV.
Hulu price drop: Why is this happening?
The timing of the Hulu price drop makes it clear why the streaming service is doing this right now.
Netflix just announced the biggest price increase in their existence, raising their price for their standard plan from $10.99 to $12.99 a month. This comes the same year that Netflix is set to lose most of their Disney content, including Marvel, Star Wars, Disney animation
The Disney+ streaming service starts later this year and that is where all the Disney owned properties will end up. Despite this, Netflix is paying more for their own original series and movies, with Variety reporting that it is estimated they will spend $15 billion in 2019 on content.
With that said, Hulu has also upped its original content as well. They have fewer original shows, but they are often seen as at least equal in quality to the average Netflix original series. Shows like The Handmaid’s Tale have received more critical acclaim than most of Netflix’s offerings.
Hulu also has a lot more television shows on their service from cable and network television, although they are missing the popular CW offerings that are on Netflix.
Finally, it is important to remember that Disney owns the majority stock in Hulu and are rumored to be using that streaming service as the destination for their Fox movies and TV shows now that they have purchased that company.
Hulu announced they have reached a high of over 25 million total subscribers in 2018.
What are all the Hulu prices?
While the Hulu price drop is lowering the rate by $2 a
The ad-free plan on Hulu remains $11.99 a month — which is still cheaper than Netflix’s new rates. They also have a plan that bundles Hulu and the Spotify music streaming service that costs $12.99.
The one area that is going up in price for Hulu is their cable service, Hulu Live TV. That plan is going up from $39.99 to $44.99 now that they have reached an agreement with Discovery Inc to add more channels.