The over-the-top market is headed
for a big smackdown this year, as
Netflix, Google, Amazon, Verizon,
Dish, Apple, Comcast, Microsoft and
others battle to expand their offerings
and market share. And that’s a mighty
big plus to Andy Forssell, given the
$ 500 million Hulu plans to spend on TV shows and movies in 2012.
Forssell, who expanded Hulu’s content providers from two in 2007
when he joined the company to more than 330 today, has already
played a key role in the service’s growth to 1.5 million subscribers
and $410 million of revenue in 2011. But Hulu still lags way behind
Netflix’s 21.7 million subs. Now that Hulu’s owners have backed
away from selling the service and are hoping to turn it into an OTT
powerhouse, Forssell’s efforts to acquire rights for new international
services and push into original programming to complement the
45,000 or so titles available on Hulu Plus will be developments worth
staying tuned to.
