Hulu to Lower Basic Streaming Package Price to $5.99/Month
Great time to sign up for Hulu!
A few days after Netflix announced a price increase, Hulu announced that they’re soon offering updated pricing options to allow new and current subscribers the best experience for them!
Starting February 26th, new and existing Hulu customers will be able to get the basic streaming package for just $5.99 per month, instead of the current $7.99 (existing subscribers will see price changes in their subsequent billing cycle). At this price, Hulu subscribers can stream more than 85,000 episodes of on-demand television, thousands of movies, and award-winning Hulu Originals with ads.
The Hulu (No Ads) plan, which offers no commercials and features the same massive library of on-demand TV and movies, will remain the same at $11.99 per month.
However, the only price increase will occur for Hulu + Live TV subscribers, which will have a $5 monthly increase and go up to $44.99 per month (formerly $39.99). Hulu + Live TV features more than 60 live sports, news, and entertainment channels to stream on virtually any living room or mobile device PLUS more than 85,000 episodes of television on demand and thousands of movies in the core Hulu plan.
It was nice to open that email up saying we’re dropping our price….usually it’s the other way around. Usually if one company raises prices, so does the next in line.
I know! SO true!
I know. I felt the same. Since we have Netflix as well it will all even out…well kind of. But it’s better than both raising prices.
So true!
Our Hulu is 13.99
How is it $13.99? None of their services have thar price.
Nice move!
We have a Sprint unlimited plan and we get HULU for free. It does have commercials but free is free!!
Is it only free on your phone or can you also watch it on your television? I looked into it but it gave directions to activate in my phone…
You can also watch on the TV once you’ve set up your account. The customer service chat people at Sprint were very helpful when I set mine up.
Tanya, I have it free with sprint too, and I downloaded the app on our Xbox and watch it from there. … and from our Fire device and Roku sometimes. So I think wherever you can download Hulu, you can watch it with the free sprint plan.
Yes, I have it on my phone and on our TV’s too.
i currently have netflix and have basic cable…does hulu have regular local news channels included?
HULU has more regular channels yes. I watch my NBC shows on HULU.
It’s variable though. I get local channels, but not all of them. For some reason Hulu cannot provide me with local CBS coverage. I’ve talked to ten different people and they all say the same thing. It can’t be done with CBS in my area.
If you’re a student who uses the student Spotify premium discount you get Hulu and shotime for free!! You just have to activate it!
A couple years ago we paid the extra $4 a month to upgrade to the no ads plan. It saves SO much time and annoyance and was worth every penny. Even with the cheapest plan dropping in price I’m still willing to pay extra for the upgrade.
I totally agree with you. We will never go back to hulu or anything for that matter with ads.
Since the basic plan’s price went down, the no ads upgrade now costs $6 extra instead of $4.
The no ads plan should have gone down $2 as well.
I use Hulu Live as my only source of live television and got the notification a couple of days ago that is increasing from $39.99 to $44.99 🙁
I love that i can see the new greys anatomy on hulu without cable im on a hulu free month but was thinking of cancelling but now with lower price o think ill keep it since i cut cable and only use netflix and prime
I also have Hulu live and was very saddened when I got the price increase email 😔😢
Love Hulu live as we needed a way to watch live sports, bummed about the increase for the highest paying customers!
thinking of cutting cable and using hulu+live tv? think it’s still worth it considering the price increase?
Dish, Directv, Fios and others are 80 and up. Hulu Live is still a great deal but I would shop around bc all have different channel options, FuboTV, Sling, Directv Now, Youtube. I personally went with FuboTV because it had more of my fave channels. And I get cash back through my Sears ShopYourWay account.
Awesome! Thank you for the feedback – this helps me tons!!
I use Sling TV (which is live streaming cable tv) – the bundles start at $19.99 and they have multiple options/packages, add-on channel packages (like all movie channels for an extra $5; all Hallmark channels & a couple others for $5) – it is SUPER easy to add, change, update, cancel, pause, etc. I have had it for over 3 years now and LOVE IT!
I also use an antenna (Mohu Leaf) for my local channels.
And like the rest of the US, I have Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu (w/ no ads). I also use Vudu when I want to buy something that isn’t free to watch yet or if I want an entire current season of tv – case in point, we LOVE Seal Team on CBS but can rarely watch it live via antenna. I purchased the entire season (even though it’s not fully out yet) on Vudu for $20.
Ditching Xfinity/Comcast (besides their internet) was one of my best decisions ever. I can’t speak to Hulu Live but Sling is where it’s at for me
I love Hulu… We have the cheapest option with ads but honestly it doesn’t bother me much because it gives me a chance to get up and get something or use the bathroom! I signed up during the Black Friday sale for 0.99 a month so I can’t complain at all. Plus there a lot of shows I like on there. 🙂
When Hulu had the .99 promotion, I saw so many people here talk about how many ads there were on the basic version & that they would never go back that I wasn’t sure if I should sign up. Glad I did, because to me the ads are minimal. We watch 1 episode of Smallville & there are no more than 2 minutes of ads for a 45 minute show. I see way more ads on regular TV or when I watch shows on the CBS or TLC apps. I see more ads when I play games on my phone. For me, I’d rather pay the $6 a month, watch the little bit of ads & save $6 that I can put towards something else.
Smart move for them to reduce the basic plan because that’s what lures people to their service. & it’s a smart move for them at least to up the price of the Hulu+Live tv. They know that anyone who subscribes to that isn’t going to go back to cable or whatever they used to have & will probably just pay the extra.
It’s not the total ad time that is the problem, it is the number and frequency of ads that are a pain.
In November 2014, Ouran High School Host Club had 3 ad breaks with 1 ad in each break. That is 3 ads per 20 – 23 minute episode. It was the same 7-second ad for another acquired anime on Hulu each time. That is 21 seconds.
Before I upgraded in October 2017, Ouran High School Host Club had 5 ad breaks with 1 ad in the first break and 3 ads in each of the other 4 breaks. That is 13 ads per 20 – 23 minute episode. It was an annoyingly repetitive mix of ads for original Hulu content and outside companies, most notably Jack in the Box. The first ad break lasted 15 seconds, and each of the other breaks lasted 45 seconds. That is 195 seconds.
The total ad time went from 21 seconds to 195 seconds. That is an increase of over 928%.
The hubs got lucky and happened to sign up for Hulu during a $1 per month promo for a year. It’s been so worth it. We were on the fence about keeping it when the year is up but now I think we will. We honestly watch it more than Netflix now.