Never mind the ever-present threat of a pay wall, or the fact that Comedy Central’s reclaimed The Daily Show and The Colbert Report; Hulu seems to be doing quite well for itself. The company’s released some figures that suggest it’s in solid shape, financially.
In 2009, Hulu apparently took in over $100 million in revenue, which is rather impressive. And it’s making money roughly twice as fast in 2010, judging from an estimate that it’ll hit the same mark by the middle of this year.
Of course, bringing in cash isn’t the same thing as keeping it, especially since Hulu’s bandwidth costs must be considerable. But Hulu managed to make a profit in the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of this year, with no end in sight.
These facts may help keep Hulu as it is, since introducing a subscription model could upset the balance that’s been established. Or at the least, if a subscription model is introduced, it’s now more likely that it’ll only restrict access to new content, leaving networks’ shows and some cable channels’ shows watchable by everyone.
Anyway, becoming profitable is a major achievement on Hulu’s part.
