Hulu is looking to lighten its ad load.
CEO Mike Hopkins, who took the helm in May, is considering cutting back the number of ads that appear on Hulu Plus, the $7.99-a-month paid tier of the online streaming service, The Post has learned.
While no decision has been made, an executive close to the company said Hulu and its media partners are “always looking at a variety of ways to create the best possible experience for our viewers and advertisers including reducing the ad load.”
Hulu, owned by big media backers 21st Century Fox, Disney and Comcast, has to walk a fine line between bringing in new subscribers and boosting ad revenue.
Concerned that Hulu was starting to mirror the heavy ad loads on broadcast television at the expense of the user experience, some ad execs cheered the possibility of a cutback.
“After Facebook went public, they had in-stream video and it suffocated the users and they pulled back,” said Steve Minichini, chief digital officer at ad agency Assembly, told The Post. “If what we’re hearing is correct — that Hulu is pulling back — I would welcome that.”
Hulu showed users an average of 82.3 ads a month, compared with YouTube and other Google-owned sites, which showed an average of 32.3 ads per viewer, according to comScore data from December 2013.
“The frequency [of ads per viewer] is very high, but you have to remember the average Hulu viewer is very engaged and they spend a lot of time there,” one source added.
The giant shift of viewers to mobile devices could be one reason Hulu is mulling the move.
“We are counseling our clients to move between 10 percent to 25 percent of TV dollars to online video, depending on the target audience,” Omnicom Media Group CEO Daryl Simm told WSJ.com, adding that sites like Hulu would be the big beneficiaries.
A Hulu rep declined comment.