Hulu Viewership and Subscriber Statistics: How Many People Watch Hulu in 2023?
Written by Brian Dean
Hulu publicly launched its video on demand service in March 2008.
The platform hit 1 million paying subscribers in 2011. Subscription numbers have seen consistent quarterly growth ever since.
Disney bought a majority stake in Hulu in December 2017, propelling further growth.
Today, Hulu has 39.4 million paying subscribers and nearly 100 million total viewers.
Continue reading to find out all the latest stats on Hulu.
Let’s get right into the data:
- Key Hulu Statistics
- Hulu viewers
- Hulu subscribers
- What is Hulu’s US market share?
- Live TV on Hulu
- Hulu gender demographics
- Hulu subscribers by generation
- Hulu subscriber political affiliation
- Where are Hulu subscribers from?
- Hulu subscriber race demographics
- Hulu subscriber annual income
- Hulu advertising revenue
- Hulu US connected TV ad revenue
- How many Hulu users choose the ad-free plan?
- Hulu’s average revenue per streaming subscriber
- Hulu’s average revenue per live TV subscriber
- Hulu’s retention rate
- Share of exclusive content on Hulu
- Hulu content hours
- Hulu streaming market share
- How many employees does Hulu have?
Key Hulu Statistics
- Hulu has a total of 99.7 million viewers.
- Hulu has 39.4 million paying subscribers.
- 4 million users subscribe to the Hulu Live TV bundle.
- Hulu brings in $2.7 billion in annual advertising revenue.
- 67% of Hulu subscribers stay with the platform after 6 months.
- 40% of Hulu’s US content is exclusive.
Hulu viewers
Hulu has an estimated total viewership of 99.7 million, factoring in users of any age who watch content on the service at least once per month. That’s an increase of 5.5% since 2020.
In the last two years (2018-2020), Hulu has added 37.5 million new viewers.
Here’s a table showing the growth in Hulu viewer numbers since 2018, with projected figures through to 2024:
| Year | Video Viewers |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 57 million |
| 2019 | 76.3 million |
| 2020 | 94.5 million |
| 2021 | 99.7 million |
| 2022 | 106.1 million |
| 2023 | 111.5 million |
| 2024 | 115.6 million |
Source: eMarketer.
Hulu subscribers
Hulu has 39.4 million paying subscribers. During the last year alone (Q1 2020 – Q1 2021), the streaming service has added 9 million new subscribers, a 29.6% year-over-year increase.
Over the last 8 years, Hulu has grown its paid subscriber base at a CAGR of 33.1%.
We have charted the growth in Hulu subscribers since 2010:
| Quarter, year | Number of subscribers |
|---|---|
| Q4 2010 | 300 thousand |
| Q1 2011 | 500 thousand |
| Q2 2011 | 900 thousand |
| Q3 2011 | 1.2 million |
| Q4 2011 | 1.5 million |
| Q1 2012 | 2 million |
| Q4 2012 | 3 million |
| Q1 2013 | 4 million |
| Q4 2013 | 5 million |
| Q2 2014 | 6 million |
| Q2 2015 | 9 million |
| Q2 2016 | 12 million |
| Q4 2017 | 13.2 million |
| Q4 2018 | 20 million |
| Q2 2019 | 26.8 million |
| Q3 2019 | 27.9 million |
| Q4 2019 | 28.5 million |
| Q1 2020 | 30.4 million |
| Q2 2020 | 32.1 million |
| Q3 2020 | 35.5 million |
| Q4 2020 | 36.6 million |
| Q1 2021 | 39.4 million |
Sources: Business Insider, Statista, Disney.
What is Hulu’s US market share?
Hulu currently has a 20% share of the US subscription video on demand (SVOD) market, calculated by the percentage of total subscriptions. The platform’s market share has declined slightly in the past 18 months.
Here’s a table showing Hulu’s share of SVOD subscriptions since Q3 2019:
| Date | Share |
|---|---|
| Q3 2019 | 27% |
| Q4 2019 | 24% |
| Q1 2020 | 23% |
| Q2 2020 | 23% |
| Q3 2020 | 22% |
| Q4 2020 | 20% |
Source: ANTENNA.
Live TV on Hulu
Hulu’s live TV bundle has 4 million subscribers. The package provides access to live programming in addition to the on-demand library. During the last year (December 2019 – January 2021), Hulu added 800 thousand new live TV subscribers.
Here’s a table with the number of Hulu live TV subscribers since March 2019:
| Date | Live TV subscribers |
|---|---|
| March 2019 | 2 million |
| September 2019 | 2.9 million |
| December 2019 | 3.2 million |
| March 2020 | 3.3 million |
| October 2020 | 4.1 million |
| January 2021 | 4 million |
Source: Disney.
Hulu live TV market share
Hulu has a 34% market share of the virtual MVPDs (multichannel video programming distributors) sector. Hulu’s share of the market has increased from 31% in September 2019.
Here’s a table showing Hulu’s share of the vMVPD segment over time:
| Date | Market share of subscribers |
|---|---|
| September 2018 | 24% |
| September 2019 | 31% |
| September 2020 | 34% |
Source: ANTENNA.
Hulu live TV monthly churn rate
Hulu + Live TV has an average active monthly churn rate of 6.9%, which is broadly comparable with other streaming services.
For reference, the Philo service has an 11.4% monthly churn rate. Disney+ has a churn rate of 8%, while Netflix loses just 2.4% of its users to cancellations each month.
Source: ANTENNA.
Hulu gender demographics
52% of Hulu subscribers are female, while the remaining 48% are male. Among rival streaming services, only Netflix can boast a similarly equal gender split (also 52/48).
Source: Morning Consult.
Hulu subscribers by generation
More than half (54%) of Hulu subscribers are either millennials or Generation Z.
Here’s a table with the full generational breakdown of Hulu subscribers:
| Generation | Share |
|---|---|
| Generation Z | 17% |
| Millennials | 37% |
| Generation X | 37% |
| Baby boomers | 19% |
Source: Morning Consult.
Hulu subscriber political affiliation
No single political affiliation holds a majority among Hulu subscribers. The Democrats are the largest group, with 43% of subscribers identifying as supporters of the party.
Here’s a breakdown of Hulu subscribers by political party affiliation:
| Political party | Share |
|---|---|
| Democrats | 43% |
| Independents | 32% |
| Republicans | 25% |
Source: Morning Consult.
Where are Hulu subscribers from?
The majority (75%) of Hulu subscribers live in urban or suburban communities. The remaining 25% live outside of towns and cities. Interestingly, this is the largest share of rural viewers among all the major streaming services.
Source: Morning Consult.
Hulu subscriber race demographics
64% of Hulu subscribers are white. Only Disney+ (62%) has a lower share of white viewers.
Here’s a breakdown of Hulu subscribers by race:
| Race | Share |
|---|---|
| White (non-Hispanic) | 64% |
| Hispanic | 20% |
| Black (non-Hispanic) | 13% |
| Asian, other race or ethnicity | 3% |
Hulu subscriber annual income
Half of Hulu subscribers make less than $50,000 per year.
Among competitors, Netflix has the most comparable income profile. On both services, just 19% of users have an annual income exceeding $100,000. The proportion of affluent subscribers is higher among other rivals.
Source: Morning Consult.
Hulu advertising revenue
Hulu’s expected advertising revenue for 2021 is $2.7 billion. That’s an increase of 20.53% over the previous year.
Here’s a table with Hulu advertising revenue since 2016:
| Year | Advertising revenue |
|---|---|
| 2016 | $873 million |
| 2017 | $986 million |
| 2018 | $1.45 billion |
| 2019 | $1.82 billion |
| 2020 | $2.24 billion |
| 2021 | $2.7 billion |
Source: Business Insider.
Hulu US connected TV ad revenue
Connected TV advertising refers to ads that can be shown on streaming services through consoles, TV sticks and smart TVs.
Hulu is forecasted to generate $2.6 billion in gross connected TV ad revenue in 2021. This represents a yearly increase of 32.65%.
Hulu’s connected TV advertising revenue has grown 1.66x since 2019.
Here’s a table showing Hulu advertising revenue since 2019:
| Year | Connected TV ad revenue |
|---|---|
| 2019 | $1.57 billion |
| 2020 | $1.96 billion |
| 2021 | $2.6 billion |
| 2022 | $3.1 billion |
Source: eMarketer.
How many Hulu users choose the ad-free plan?
The majority (62%) of new Hulu members opt for the ad-supported plan. The remaining 38% pay extra for the ad-free plan.
Here’s a table showing sign-up trends since October 2020:
| Date | Share (ad-supported, ad-free) |
|---|---|
| October 2020 | 62%, 38% |
| November 2020 | 81%, 19% |
| December 2020 | 67%, 33% |
| January 2021 | 62%, 38% |
Source: ANTENNA.
Hulu’s average revenue per streaming subscriber
Among users without the live TV plan, Hulu reports average monthly revenue of $13.51 per user. That’s an increase of 10.37% over the previous quarter, up from $12.24 per user.
Here’s a table with Hulu’s average revenue per user since March 2019:
| Date | Average monthly revenue per subscriber |
|---|---|
| March 2019 | $12.73 |
| September 2019 | $13.09 |
| December 2019 | $13.15 |
| March 2020 | $12.06 |
| October 2020 | $12.24 |
| January 2021 | $13.51 |
Source: Disney.
Hulu’s average revenue per live TV subscriber
Live TV bundle subscribers are Hulu’s most lucrative customers. The average revenue per user is 5.56x higher than among streaming-only subscribers.
The average Hulu live TV subscriber contributes $75.11 in monthly revenue.
Here’s a table showing Hulu’s average monthly revenue per live TV subscriber since March 2019:
| Date | Average monthly revenue per subscriber |
|---|---|
| March 2019 | $52.58 |
| September 2019 | $55.98 |
| December 2019 | $59.47 |
| March 2020 | $67.75 |
| October 2020 | $67.24 |
| January 2021 | $75.11 |
Source: Disney.
Hulu’s retention rate
67% of Hulu subscribers remain on the platform after 6 months. That places the platform 4th among 7 major players, ahead of the likes of HBO Max and Amazon Video.
Source: Second Measure.
Share of exclusive content on Hulu
40% of content on Hulu is exclusive (not available to stream on any other US service).
For comparison, 83% of US Netflix content is exclusive. Only Amazon Prime has a lower share of exclusive content than Hulu, at 38%.
Source: Reelgood.
Hulu content hours
Hulu has the highest number of total content hours among all US streaming libraries.
Based on hours of recent content (released within the last 3 years), Hulu ranks second nationally.
Ranked by hours of original content, Hulu sits 3rd.
Source: Reelgood.
Hulu streaming market share
Hulu accounts for 15% of SVOD streaming activity in the US, which makes it the 3rd most popular service in the country (behind Netflix and Prime Video).
Source: Reelgood.
How many employees does Hulu have?
Hulu has 2,350 employees, situated in the US and China. The average compensation at Hulu is estimated to be $101,593.
Hulu employees on H1-B visas in the US are reported to receive a median salary of $157,000.
Sources: Dun & Bradstreet, Comparably, H1B Salary Database.
Conclusion
That’s all for my list of Hulu statistics.
Hopefully, you’ve learned something new from this roundup. There are several big players in the streaming game, so it’s interesting to see how Hulu stacks up against the likes of Netflix and Prime Video.
The platform doesn’t share a ton, but I’ve done my best to find facts and figures from multiple sources to provide you with a comprehensive overview.
Now I’m interested to hear from you:
Are there any more Hulu stats you’d like to see included? Or do you have a question or comment about any of the figures featured here?
Either way, don’t hesitate to drop me a line in the comment section below.