INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Authors: JordanHulu has announced that it will finally bring offline viewing to the streaming service later this year for both its Hulu with
Ads and basic Hulu subscription tiers. It’s the latest in a fusilade against Amazon Prime and Netflix, both of which announced offline
viewing over a year ago and have supported it ever since. While the news means that you’ll finally be able to watch shows from Fox,
Disney, NBC, CBS and others on airplanes and areas with poor or no cell reception, there’s also a significant catch to the deal: If
you’re a Hulu with Ads subscriber, you’re going to download the ads you would’ve seen online with every episode. Offline viewing is
being implemented in this way, it seems, to placate advertisers and broadcasters who count on Hulu to display ads in front of its content
While that sounds outright upsetting, the brightside is that it might encourage shows and films that might not have allowed offline viewing
in the past to warm up to the idea. Hulu also used the forum where it announced the offline news to talk about its other advertising
initiative: dynamic ads that will interrupt content during live segments for its Hulu with Live TV customers
Hulu imagines these ads will appear in between news and sports segments where ads aren’t currently, though it hasn't stated when these
dynamic advertisements would make their way into the service.Problems with ads Have some more content! Advocates of a better streaming
experience will see ads as a major problem - as Hulu is using storage space on your device for advertisements and that was one reason that
offline viewing has thus-far been ad-free. The fear here, some might think, is that Hulu’s decision could create a new norm for paid
streaming services - one in which money is paid to the streaming service for downloadable content, but also that content will come with ads
Imagine if Google Play Movies rented a TV series to you for $3.99 per episode and then played ads every seven or eight minutes - just like
traditional cable TV networks do.To cushion the blow, Hulu has also announced a deal with Dreamworks Animation Studios that the streaming
service will be the exclusive home to a number feature films including How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, The Boss Baby 2 and
Trolls 2 in 2019, plus some of the film studio’s older films like Shrek and Shark Tale in 2020.If 2020 seems a bit too far away, you can
look forward to new original content from Hulu starting later this year: Hulu announced a number of new series including projects from J.J
Abrams, Stephen King, Mindy Kaling, George Clooney, Reese Witherspoon and Kerri Washington - the former of which, called Castle Rock, is set
to debut July 25.Via TechCrunch
