Online video streaming service Hulu revealed during its Hulu 18 Presentation at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York today that the service now has more than 20 million subscribers in the United States. It added that total engagement on Hulu is up by more than 60 percent and that 78 percent of the viewing on its service takes place in the living room on connected smart TVs. It also revealed that the Hulu offline downloads feature will be available in the not too distant future.
Hulu has also announced its first-ever multi-year deal with DreamWorks Animation today. This makes the service the exclusive streaming home to future DreamWorks Animation feature films as well as iconic films from the DreamWorks library. Hulu is also going to work with DreamWorks Animation Television to create original kids and family series which will be exclusively streamed on its service.
The Hulu offline downloads feature is going to be made available to subscribers later this year. They will be able to download their favorite shows and movies for watching when they don’t have an internet connection. It does mention that this downloadable content experience is going to be ad-supported, which means that Hulu will give advertisers the opportunity to target audiences even when they have saved content for offline viewing. However, those who pay $11.99 for no ads on Hulu will not see any advertisements in their downloaded content.
While it hasn’t provided a precise release date for this as yet, Hulu says that the downloadable content experience will be live in the 2018-19 upfront season.