Hulu to go freemium?
The L.A. Times reports that Hulu is planning to move to a freemium model as soon as May 24th. Newer content would be free with episode archives available as a premium offering. I for one would pay for Hulu access under the right conditions. That said, I have at least two issues with the proposed model (with the understanding that the L.A. Times report isn’t official and could in fact be wildly off base).
- $9.95/month is too high. If you want to acclimate people to payments, start with something small and incremental (say $15/year or $2/month for access to a certain genre)
- “Ultimately, Hulu is expected to adopt the same commercial loads as network television. ” So let me get this straight: you want me to sit through the same absurd commercial load as I get with my HDTV, but not in true HD, AND you want me to pay for it? I’m already paying for cable! This better be an either/or, or maybe they’re defining “load” in nominal terms. I’ll sit through 3 7-second ads (and probably engage more with them), but if you expect me to sit through 3 30-second ads, then you’re trying to charge me for the same shitty experience I already get for free over broadcast. Not cool.
I’ll tell you something I’d definitely pay for: a Hulu channel in Boxee (provided it used its current content/ad split). I’d even pay a bit more than I’d have to pay for website access (say $3/month instead of $2).
