Hulu Is Expected To Lose $1.5 Billion In 2018
A recent SEC filing from Comcast has led to a projection showing Hulu is on track to lose over $1.5 billion by the end of 2018. This is due to the company’s continual efforts to push funds into additional content, as well as the attempts to gain new subscribers, reports The Wrap.
Comcast, who owns a 30 percent portion of Hulu’s streaming service, said in the SEC filing that Hulu lost $353.3 million during its second quarter of 2018. During their first quarter, the company saw a $436 million loss. This report states that it is believed Hulu will see another yearly loss increase of 71 percent from the $920 million total lost in 2017. Last year, the company spent a total of $2.5 billion on its content. The SEC filing shows that Hulu is set to lap that amount this year.
Such mounting losses set Hulu to come in third place behind rival companies, Netflix and Amazon.
Records at The Economist show that Netflix is projected to spend a total of $13 billion in 2018 for programming. Meanwhile, Amazon will spend $5 billion for its service content, as shown in the analysis from JP Morgan, according to the Response. These same reports explain that Netflix, while operating at a loss just the same as Hulu, grabs more viewers than its green logo competitor. In fact, Netflix has nearly three times as many subscribers in the United States as Hulu’s streaming service.
Hulu has seen progress recently on several fronts, especially with its show, The Handmaid’s Tale. That show scored 20 of Hulu’s 27 total Emmy nominations. Not to mention, the Hulu subscriber base is shown to be growing. So far, Hulu has a recorded 20 million customers in the United States. These customers are paying the minimum $7.99 a month for the streaming service. Hulu’s live television service has 800,000 subscribers since the launch in 2017. Prices for the live TV service runs about $39.99 a month.
Despite seeming to lag behind, Hulu is set to receive more stake holding from Disney. Disney is claimed to be doubling its current 30 percent stake in Hulu following the company’s acquisition of Fox. CEO Bob Iger told the public last December that Disney will continue its investments into Hulu’s shows. Tech Crunch reported earlier this week about Iger remarking on the company’s earnings, saying that he sees Hulu as part of a three-pronged streaming play from the Mouse House, as well as Disney’s other upcoming services, and ESPN+.
