History of Computers - Hulu
Introduction
Hulu.com first appeared as the personal blog of Amy Hung. She used the website as a place to store photos and share them with family pre myspace. NBC contacted her and purchased the site. Hulu.com is currently a site to stream movies and TV shows. Hulu relaunched on October 29, 2007 as a place to sign up for a private beta. At its launch, Hulu was owned by AOL, Comcast, Facebook, MSN, Myspace, and Yahoo!. NBC and Fox were two of the first companies to join the project. Maybe as a nod to Amy Hung, Hulu used to define the meaning of Hulu on the site as the Chinese word hulu (葫蘆), which is a gourd. There is a Chinese proverb that refers to a hollowed out gourd as the holder of precious things. [2]
Overview
Hulu is a video streaming service that offers television shows and full length movies. Hulu is an excellent way to watch today's popular shows and movies and it also has a large selection of older shows, helping it to be a resource that will appeal to multiple generations. Hulu offers its rage of shows and movies through partnerships with studios including MGM, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures Television and others. It has hundreds of TV shows from ABC, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, CW, FOX, NBC, and other networks. Because it is backed by large companies like NBC Universal, Fox Entertainment, and ABC Inc., it has the support to put it in competition with Netflix. [3]
A basic Hulu subscription is $7.99 a month, but includes ads throughout the video. Hulu says that ads allow them to keep the subscription fee lower for their users. A premium membership, called Hulu Plus, does not have ads and is an extra $4 each month. [4] Hulu is unique among its competitors because is has a dual revenue from both paid subscriptions to its premium service and advertising. Hulu has partnered with more than 1,000 brands, including McDonald's, Visa, Pepsi, Microsoft, Toyota, Honda, State Farm and Procter & Gamble. The premium subscription allows users to watch videos on a variety of devices. The premium version also allows users to stream in HD when available. Hulu quickly updates episodes within 24 hours of them airing, which is a significant perk that Netflix does not offer. [5]
Hulu also offers their own original series, the most popular of which by far is "The Handmaid's Tale", which won the best drama series Emmy award for 2017. [6] Some of Hulu's other more popular original series include "Harlots", "Difficult People", and "The Wrong Mans". Although few of Hulu's series have received attention compared to the popularity of Netflix's original series.
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Significance
The arrival of Hulu added more popularity to the use of video streaming sites and introduced a significant competitor to the top streaming site, Netflix. [8] It shaped the way people can access movies and TV shows and impacted the use of movie rental places and cable TV. It's still on the rise as a streaming company and with it's unique features, it offers a different kind of service and experience to users. It played a notable role in the collapse of blockbuster as it contributed to the rise of streaming sites
