After a year in which it was almost sold, Hulu is doing better than ever thanks to the guidance of a new CEO and a stronger focus on new and original content. All of that has helped to catapult the video streaming service to new heights and it expects to pass a significant milestone before the end of the year.

Hulu announced today that its business is doing better than ever and that it expects to bring in $1 billion in revenue before the year is over. It’s quite an increase from last year when the service only pulled in $695 million over the course of 2012.

So, how is Hulu bringing in all that money? The main reason behind its continued success is that it keeps on adding more subscribers to Hulu Plus. In 2013, it reached 5 million subscribers – a significant number. Hulu attributes this rise in subscribers thanks to the numerous devices Hulu Plus is now on, including the Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo 3DS, Chromecast and more.

As Hulu Plus comes to more devices, we may very well see subscription numbers rise even more. After all, 50 percent of all Hulu Plus subscribers exclusively stream on devices, instead of via a Web browser. Over half of its video content is also viewed in the living room so there’s definitely a demand for Hulu Plus on devices that bring the viewing experience to the TV.

Besides subscribers, Hulu was able to bring in $1 billion this year thanks to an increase in advertising. The service now boasts over 1,000 brands – a 15 percent increase over last year. This helps Hulu custom-tailor ads to viewers which leads to far more engagement. In fact, Hulu says that it streamed more than 1 billion ads in each quarter last year, and that viewers watched 50 minutes of content on average in Q4. That’s a lot of advertising, and as such, Hulu was number one in engagement among ad supported online video sties throughout all of 2013.

Of course, all of this would mean absolutely nothing if it wasn’t for Hulu’s push for new and original content. Hulu notes that it’s the only place where people can watch current season content from five of the six largest U.S. broadcast networks and hosts seven out of the top 10 primetime TV shows. Aside from content from broadcasters, Hulu also aired over 20 original series with many performing incredibly well on the service.

Oh, and as for Hulu Japan, it’s doing better than ever. The company notes that it has more than doubled the number of subscribers since the beginning of the year. The massive rise in subscribers could have something to do with the fact that Hulu Japan now offers more than 12,000 “assets” of TV dramas and film, and is available on a variety of devices in the country, including smartphones.

Looking into the future, Hulu says that it expects to invest in more original content and network TV shows that its users want to see. With this, it expects to see even more growth as it continues to do battle with its major rivals at Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.

Images via Hulu