After watching Hulu quarterly subscriber growth fall to less than 14% of what it was just a year ago, Disney is taking bold action, reducing the price of the $6.99-a-month base Hulu SVOD tier for new and eligible returning subscribers to $1 a month for the first 90 days.
The offer is outlined and available now on Hulu's landing page and runs through May 27.
Hulu's base plan, which is partially supported by commercial advertising, is far and away the JV's most popular tier. For Disney's fiscal first quarter ended April 2, Hulu added only 300,000 total subscribers, a number that was partly dragged down by the sour performance of virtual MVPD Hulu+ Live TV, which lost 200,000 customers in the quarter.
A year prior, Hulu added 2.2 million total subscribers.
Buzz-wise, it's been a slow programming stretch for Hulu, with the debuts of several original limited series based on real-life murders within religious communities (Under the Banner of Heaven and Candy) failing to lighten the mood.
Of course, Hulu isn't the only U.S. SVOD struggling with signups, with Netflix famously losing 200,000 customers from January - March.
Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall recently predicted that U.S. subscription streaming services will add only around 29 million subscribers this year vs. 41 million in 2021.
