Hulu's 'Prey' touts record premiere viewership

Hulu’s “Prey” – an action thriller movie released on August 5 – secured the number one premiere spot among both film and TV show releases on the service.

While parent company Disney didn’t break out specific viewing metrics, it said it pulled data from hours watched in the first three days of the movie’s debut. “Prey” was the most watched film premiere on Disney’s Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ under the Star banner in all other territories.

The announcement comes at the heels of Disney reporting second quarter earnings results. Hulu’s subscriber base now stands at 46.2 million – including 42.2 million SVOD only subs and 4 million users on Hulu’s Live TV/SVOD bundle.

Though Hulu falls under the Disney umbrella, it’s apparently growing at a faster rate than Disney’s flagship Disney+, according to a July report from the Wall Street Journal. One way Hulu is growing is through revenue from its ad-supported version.

Disney is leaning onto its AVOD experience with Hulu for Disney+’s upcoming ad-supported tier – set to be released in the U.S. on December 8. But the ad experience won’t be exactly the same as on Hulu. On Wednesday’s earnings call, CFO Christine McCarthy said Disney+’s ads will have lower volume and frequency, compared to Hulu.

Disney+’s forthcoming ad-supported tier will cost $7.99 per month, currently the cost of its ad-free version – soon to be raised to $10.99 per month.

Comparatively, Hulu’s ad-supported plan costs $6.99 monthly, while the ad-free tier is priced at $12.99 per month.

Hulu continues to enhance its streaming content. The streamer in May struck a deal with Live Nation to livestream several music festivals over the next two years. The livestreams will be included within a Hulu viewer’s subscription.

Hulu is also soon to be the home of the comedy series “Schitt’s Creek” – snagging the streaming rights from Netflix. The entire show will be available to stream beginning October 3.