Hulu CEO Predicts $500M in Revenues This Year
Hulu will hit $500 million in advertising and subscription revenues this year, nearly doubling last year’s take, CEO Jason Kilar said Monday.
Kilar, who spoke at the Internet Advertising Bureau’s 2011 Annual Leadership Meeting in Palm Springs, California, said the site now claims 627 advertisers and 250 content partners, compared with only two advertisers when Hulu launched three years ago, according a report in Adweek. Kilar had previously predicted that Hulu would post about $240 million in ad revenues in 2010. The actual figure was $263 million, up from $108 million in 2009.
In the following video excerpt of the speech, Kilar explains why he thinks overall Internet ad revenues are likely to increase. “Time spent versus the ad dollars spent is incredibly out of whack,” Kilar said. “But that gap will close and I believe it will close in due haste.” Kilar says the Internet accounts for 28% of consumption time but only attracts 13% of U.S. media dollars.
The optimistic outlook comes after a report that Disney and Fox are considering pulling content from Hulu because the company’s business model is at odds with their online sales goals.
Correction: A previous version of this story said Hulu will bring in $500 million in advertising revenue alone, and that Hulu launched 18 months ago. The article has been updated accordingly.