Netflix got a lot of attention last week by announcing that it would raise the price of its monthly subscription plans. Meanwhile, rival streaming service Hulu is currently offering a discount on its entry-level monthly membership.
For a limited time, Hulu is offering new and returning users its least expensive streaming membership tier, which includes commercials, for $5.99 monthly instead of the usual $7.99 price. New and returning users must sign up for the deal by Jan. 9, 2018, and the lower price will last for one year, according to Hulu’s site. Hulu’s promotion kicked off on September 21.
Last week, Netflix made headlines by announcing its latest price uptick, with standard U.S. Plans increasing by $1, to $9.99 per month, and premium U.S. Plans jumping from $11.99 a month to $13.99. A Hulu spokesperson told Variety that the streaming service is timing its own promotion to coincide with the return of TV networks’ fall television season lineups. Hulu, which is jointly-owned by four large media companies, also offered a similar deal ahead of last year’s fall TV season.
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Netflix’s price hike has actually helped push the streaming giant’s stock price higher (up 8.6% in the past week), as the anticipated increased revenue from the company’s 100 million global subscribers can go toward Netflix’s more than $6 billion in annual spending on original TV and film programming. Hulu, meanwhile, said last month it would spend roughly $2.5 billion on original programming in 2017, a year in which the service saw its first breakout TV series hit with the Emmy Award-winning feminist dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale.
CORRECTION: This article has been corrected to show that Hulu’s limited-time pricing offer launched in late-September.
