Hulu wants to be a streaming media leader. And Hulu doesn’t seem to care what it might cost to be a leader. For 2018, Hulu has already lost $793 Million. But that is just this year – 2018. If you look back to earlier years, Hulu has lost $2.24 Billion since 2016. Yes. $2.24 BILLION.

Hulu Has Lost $2.24 Billion Since 2016

Hulu has 20 Million subscribers. But getting those subscribers seems to have come at cost for Hulu. In the last 10 financial quarters from January 2016 to June 2018, Hulu has lost a staggering $2.24 Billion.

And in just 2018, Hulu lost $793 Million. (Hulu lost $436 Million from January to March and $357 Million from April to June.)

When will it stop?

Hulu Is Spending Money…

Hulu Is Spending Money To Create Original Content

Here are some of the Hulu Original series…

• East Los High
• The Path
• Freakish
• Chance
• Shut Eye
• Handmaid’s Tale
• Marvel’s Runaways

Hulu miniseries…

• 11.22.63
• The Looming Tower
• Castle Rock

Plus, more Hulu Original programming is coming…

• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• Ramy
• Catch-22
• The First
• Little Fires Everywhere
• Into The Dark (Year-Round Horror Event Series)

… and this only scratches the surface of the upcoming Hulu Original programming.

Hulu Is Spending Money To Get Subscribers

While Hulu now has 20 Million subscribers, they still have a long way to go to reach Netflix’s U.S. subscriber total of 56.7 Million.

When I wrote that Hulu is Pushing for More Subscribers, I talked about 3 moves Hulu is making to increase subscriber numbers.

1. Signing new marketing partnerships
2. Providing special offers to new Hulu subscribers
3. Investing in Original shows

1.) New Marketing Partnerships

• Hulu Sponsors NBA Playoff Series on TNT (April 13, 2018)
• Spotify Premium – Now with Hulu (April 11, 2018): Partnership Deal
• Official Sponsor of the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Playoffs and Finals (April 10, 2018)
  • official sponsor of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Finals.
  • sponsorship of the Stanley Cup Playoffs pre-game shows on NBC Sports.
• The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden (March 01, 2018): Marketing Partnership with naming rights

2.) Special offers to new Hulu subscribers

• Spotify Premium – Now with Hulu for 99-cents Per Month (3 Months)
• Add HBO for $4.99 (EXPIRED DEAL) per month for 6 months to ANY Hulu plan, then the regular price of $14.99 per month
• Hulu Free Trial Offers:
  • Hulu Limited Commercials – First Month Free Trial
  • Hulu No Commercials– First Month Free Trial
  • Hulu Live TV – First Week Free Trial

3.) Original shows

• Hulu has 28 Original shows that include The Handmaid’s Tale, The Path, Marvel’s Runaways, The Looming Tower, 11.22.63, Hard Sun, and Future Man.
• Upcoming Hulu Original shows include Catch-22, Castle Rock, and The First.
• Hulu and IFC Films Announce New Output Deal (January 25, 2018)

Hulu Is Spending Money On Infrastructure and App Features

Hulu continues to aggressively improve their streaming services. Here is a short list of recent Hulu improvements to their infrastructure and features available in their Roku and Amazon Fire TV apps:

• Hulu Live TV Guide – Dedicated live destination and a dynamic guide into our Web experience for Hulu Live TV
• Hulu Live TV App Updates – LG WebOS Smart TVs, More Samsung Smart TVs and Roku Devices Get Hulu Live TV
• More DVR Options – New features for the Hulu Live TV Cloud DVR
• Personalized Olympic Winter Games (feature) – Customize Olympic Winter Games preferences
• Live TV on Web Gets My Stuff and Picture-in-Picture
• New Hulu UI Experience
• Hulu Live TV Beta Service
• Support for Amazon’s Alexa

… and more – which includes improvements in the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that runs it all.

Streaming Services Subscriber Numbers

Here is where Hulu stands next to other streaming home TV entertainment and content providers.

• Netflix – 56.7 Million Subscribers (125 Million Worldwide)
• Hulu (Total: Includes Non-Live & Live) – 20 Million Subscribers
• Sling TV – 2.2 Million subscribers
• DIRECTV NOW – 1.81 Million subscribers
• Hulu Live TV (Only Live TV) – 800,000 subscribers
• Playstation Vue (PS Vue) – 450,000 to 670,000 subscribers
• YouTube TV – 300,000 subscribers
• fuboTV – 100,000 subscribers
• Philo – 50,000 subscribers

Note: All subscription numbers are either unofficial or estimated. YouTube TV estimates are courtesy of CNBC. Playstation Vue estimate of 670,000 subscribers courtesy of Ben Bajarin. Philo subscriber estimate from Wikipedia. DIRECTV NOW, fuboTV, Hulu, Hulu Live TV, and Sling TV self-disclosed their subscriber estimates.