Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building leapt onto Nielsen’s streaming charts for the week of August 7 to August 13. With the debut of Season 3, the series racked up 719M viewing minutes, making it to No. 9 on the overall Top 10 and No. 3 among streaming originals. According to Nielsen, the audience for Only Murders was a “carbon copy” of the series that’s been dominating streaming for the past eight weeks — Suits. That series had another impressive week with 3B viewing minutes once again across Netflix and Peacock.
Disney has seen a 60% jump in Hulu + Live TV subscriptions relative to internal expectations since a carriage impasse with Charter began, according to figures provided to Deadline by a Disney spokesperson. Last Thursday, 18 of Disney’s cable networks and eight ABC stations went dark on Charter’s Spectrum service in one of the most contentious and consequential TV carriage disputes in memory.
Comcast and Disney have modified their Hulu agreement to enable the expected buyout of Comcast’s one-third stake in the streamer to begin on September 30 instead of next January. The news was shared at a Goldman Sachs conference appearance by Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, who said the initial minimum valuation of $27.5 billion for Hulu agreed to in 2019 was “just a hypothetical.” He suggested the final price tag could be much higher. Roberts said both companies “wanted to get this behind us,” so they reached an agreement last week to accelerate the timeline.
The battle between Charter Communications and Walt Disney, spurred due to cord-cutting, is now getting very tangled. Charter suggested last week that it might be ready to cut Disney networks from its programming lineup after the two companies reached an impasse in talks to extend their carriage contract. Now Disney is hinting to Charter subscribers that they might want to cut their connection with the large cable distributor.
Is ABC Really For Sale?
A tipping point for the broadcast industry is coming, and part of it hinges on a problem that Disney chief Bob Iger created for himself.
Exclusives
The average cost of watching a major ad-free streaming service is going up by nearly 25% in about a year, as entertainment giants bet that customers will either pay up or switch to their cheaper and more-lucrative ad-supported plans.
The buzz about bundling has been steadily growing in TV industry circles since May, when Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav took a break from his usual mustache-twirling to lay out a case for why companies with streaming platforms needed to get on the ball and figure out a way to package their respective services together in one consumer-friendly package — a.k.a. a bundle.
She had been SVP of content partnerships, acquisitions and scheduling. In her new role, she will expand her portfolio, assuming responsibility for the overall Hulu business.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Ryan Reynolds has already taken Hollywood to Wrexham. Now the Welsh soccer team is on its way to Tinseltown. The club, which was down on its […]
Given the TV ad slowdown so far this year, as well as some content reductions, Disney/Comcast-owned Hulu is projected to see a 10% decline to $3.12 billion this year vs. 2022, according to new estimates from MoffettNathanson Research. However, the analysts project Hulu’s ad business will 5% rise to $3.27 billion next year, and another 5% to $3.44 billion in 2025.
Hulu is joining the latest round of programming purges. The streamer is pulling off a number of additional series from its service as part of Disney’s wider plan to cut streaming costs. The company revealed last month in an SEC filing that it would take $1.5 billion-$1.8 billion in write-downs associated with removing streaming programming from its platforms and expects to remove from more its direct-to-consumer platforms in the third quarter with another $400 million in impairment charges.
Hulu’s parents, Walt Disney Co. and Comcast, are negotiating to end their troubled marriage. Comcast can require Disney, which owns two-thirds of Hulu, to buy its one-third stake, or Disney can require Comcast to sell under a deal starting in 2024. Hulu has a minimum valuation of $27.5 billion under the agreement.
Disney is starting to pull content from streaming, with dozens of series and specials slated to leave Disney+ and Hulu on May 26, Deadline has learned. The titles, which are being removed from Disney’s streaming services globally, include Disney+’s Willow, Big Shot, Turner & Hooch, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Just Beyond, Diary of a Future President, The Mysterious Benedict Society and The World According to Jeff Goldblum and Hulu’s Y: The Last Man, Dollface, The Hot Zone, Maggie, Pistol and Little Demon. Clockwise from top left: Willow, Big Shot, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Pistol, Y: The Last Man and Dollface.
It seems more and more likely that Disney is going to fully own Hulu. It just comes down to price. Speaking Tuesday at MoffettNathanson’s Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in New York, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts addressed Comcast selling its 33% stake in the streamer. “I think it’s more likely than not,” Roberts said.
Deal covers 122 TV stations, including MyNetworkTV affiliates and four independents. The agreement also renews carriage of the company’s NewsNation cable news network.
Hulu has expanded the duties for Barrie Gruner, the EVP of marketing. She will assume oversight of brand marketing, while continuing to shepherd content marketing. Gruner first joined the streamer in 2013 as a VP, originals marketing and publicity. As part of the Hulu reorganization, Scott Donaton will leave his post as SVP marketing. Donaton joined the streamer in 2019 from ad agency Digitas, where he was chief content and creative officer.
For over a month now, Sinclair-owned ABC affiliates have been dark on Hulu. On Friday night Hulu started to add them back. This news comes as blackouts have become more common both on cable TV and streaming services over the last few months. Sinclair said: “We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle with Hulu, which has our ABC stations returning to Hulu.”
Grand Knighthawk: Infiltrating the KKK, produced by George Stephanopoulos Productions and ABC News Studios, premieres on Hulu Thursday, April 27.
The highly secretive spec script from Fogelman quietly went to senior level executives at 20th Television and Hulu and was picked up to series.
According to Wells Fargo’s Steven Cahall, Disney selling Hulu is no longer just an alternative counter-theory, existing on the outer fringes of the broader, rampant forward-looking speculation regarding Hulu’s fate. It’s evolved into a mainstream thesis. “Ask 10 investors if they think Disney will sell Hulu, and we think ~7 will answer, ‘yes,'” Cahall wrote in a Wednesday morning investor note.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said today that he’s open to selling Hulu — instead of forking over billions of dollars to buy out Comcast’s stake in the streaming platform. Asked on CNBC about his plans for Hulu as a 2024 deadline to buy it or sell it approaches, he said: “Everything is on the table right now, so I am not going to speculate whether we are a buyer or a seller of it. But I obviously have suggested that I’m concerned about undifferentiated general entertainment, particularly in the competitive landscape that we are operating in, and we are going to look at it very objectively and expansively.”
The updated version of the beloved adult animated comedy hails from original series creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels as well as Saladin Patterson. All three are also executive producers on the show, with Patterson also set to serve as showrunner.
Fox Entertainment and Hulu have reached a multi-year content partnership which includes in-season streaming rights for Fox’s expansive programming slate and an extensive multi-platform strategic marketing alliance, the companies announced Monday. Under the terms of the agreement, all Fox primetime entertainment programming – ranging from Family Guy and The Cleaning Lady to The Masked Singer and Next Level Chef — will continue to stream on Hulu the next day following its linear telecast.
Neil Patrick Harris made a surprise return to his HIMYM character Barney Stinson in the Season 2 premiere of Hulu’s How I Met Your Father, and it appears he will play a pivotal role in the spinoff series.
Waymark, a pioneer in using artificial intelligence to speed up and scale up video production, today announced the inclusion of its platform in the creative directories of both Hulu and Roku. Small and […]
Emily Furutani — who served as director of comedy development for Universal Television -has joined Hulu Originals as vice president, comedy. She will report into Billy Rosenberg, the head of comedy for Hulu Originals.
