Hulu offers steep discount for Black Friday

Hulu is cutting the price of its SVOD-only service by more than 60% as limited time Black Friday deal.

The company said that new and eligible returning subscribers – those who haven’t been subscribers for more than three months – can get Hulu’s ad-supported plan, normally $5.99 per month, for $1.99 per month for one year. The deal is available beginning midnight on Thanksgiving through November 30.

Hulu has a history of offering significant discounts to its ad-supported service for new and returning subscribers. In 2019, the company knocked 50% off the price as part of promotion tied to Chrissy Teigen. In late 2018, Hulu rolled out a promotion selling its service for $0.99 per month for a year.

RELATED: Hulu + Live TV raises price to $65/month

The big discount for Hulu’s SVOD-only service shows up as the company is getting ready to increase the monthly cost for its Hulu + Live TV service. The live streaming TV service will raise its price by $10 per month, from $54.99 to $64.99, beginning December 18 for both new and existing customers. The price of Hulu with no ads plus live TV will also increase from $60.99/month to $70.99/month.

Hulu ended the most recent quarter with 36.6 million total subscribers, 32.5 million of which subscribe to the SVOD-only service. That figure is up 27% annually from 25.6 million in 2019. As Hulu’s SVOD-only subscriber base grows, its average revenue per user has shrunk slightly, down 1% year over year.

Disney attributed Hulu’s ARPU decline to the introduction of the bundled subscription package – which includes Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu for $12.99/month – and lower per-subscriber advertising revenue. The company said the decline was partially offset by a lower mix of wholesale and promotional subscribers, but the newest Black Friday deal is likely to put a higher number of promotional subscribers into the mix.