When Hulu launched in 2007, online video largely meant user-generated video… even though YouTube had only been around a few years. Hulu changed things by bringing TV shows and movies online… with the cooperation of TV networks and movie studios.

Hulu was entirely ad-supported and free to use when it launched, but a few years later the company introduced Hulu Plus: a service that offers a much deeper back catalog of content for $7.99 per month. Subscribers still need to put up with ads though… something which has always rubbed some potential customers the wrong way since Netflix and Amazon Prime don’t show ads to paying subscribers (although cable and satellite TV providers clearly do).

Now the Wall Street Journal reports that Hulu is considering a new option that will let subscribers pay more money in order to get rid of the ads.

hulu

The service is reportedly code-named NOAH, for “No Ads Hulu,” and the Wall Street Journal says detailed haven’t been finalized yet, but the service could cost $12 to $14 per month

That would make Hulu’s ad-free tier significantly more expensive than Netflix or Amazon Prime… but Hulu offers something those services don’t: access to a library of currently-airing TV shows as well as a big back catalog of older episodes, movies, and series.

While Hulu doesn’t have access to everything that airs on network television, the company does offer many current shows from broadcast and cable networks within hours or days of their original air date. You typically have to wait months for those same episodes to show up on rival services.

So what do you think? Would you be willing to pay as much as $14 per month for NOAH?

[polldaddy poll=”8984542″]

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5 replies on “Would you pay more for Hulu without ads?”

  1. A lot of people don’t seen to know that Hulu has a large number of movies without ads.
    At any rate it would depend on the content. I bet not everything they currently have access to would be included in an ad-free offering.

  2. I haven’t watched Hulu in a long time. When it first launched I watched it regularly. They used to have maybe 3 ads in an entire episode of a TV show. A few months ago I thought I would give it a try again and was horrified at the number of ads they had crammed into a show. Haven’t watched it since. Would I pay for Hulu without ads? I am not sure. I don’t know what they offer these days. If they have a good selection of shows and I could convince my GF to drop her cable TV I would have no problem paying 12 – 14 dollars a month for Hulu. I also have Netflix, Amazon Prime and the paid version of Pandora. Add it all up and it is still much cheaper than cable.

  3. Yes. A major part of their problem is that I WON’T pay for anything with ads. The price is not the issue.

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