Tired of Hulu ads? We don't blame you. One of the sticking points of the online streaming service is that even if you pony up $8 per month for Hulu, you still have to deal with advertising. It's an unavoidable part of the service…for now, at least.
"In short, content—and especially current-season television content—is expensive. In order to make our service cost the $7.99 that we charge, we show ads. Most television services (think cable) will also show you advertising alongside content you're watching in order to keep things affordable," wrote Sizheng Chen, former Hulu software engineer, in a response to a Quora question about Hulu ads.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Hulu is considering a version of Hulu that's completely free of all advertising—basically, the same kind of experience you'd get on many of the streaming services currently competing against Hulu. The catch? You'll have to pay for it.
The "NOAH" project, as it's reportedly known internally (No Ads Hulu), could be priced anywhere from $12 to $14 per month. That's not quite double Hulu's current price, but it does put Hulu's offering potentially higher than anything rival Netflix currently offers (for now). It is, however, in line with HBO Now at $14.99 per month. Standalone Showtime costs $10.99 per month, though you can actually get it cheaper when purchasing through Hulu.
Presumably, as the Journal notes, Hulu doesn't actually want that many people switching to an advertising-free version of the service—hence the high price. Its dual-revenue model, which combines subscriptions and advertising, does give it a little more security than a service that's backed entirely on subscriptions. According to some estimates, a majority of Hulu's revenue (59 percent of 2013's $1 billion total) comes in through advertising. So, if Hulu were to make a no-advertising option too enticing, it might stand to lose more on ads than it makes with slightly pricier subscription plans.
Hulu's "NOAH" project could debut as early as this fall, but there's no confirmed timeline (nor price). The service currently has about 9 million paid subscribers, and it's expected to hit revenues of $1.5 to $1.7 billion this year.