Hulu and YouTube TV Close to 500,000 Subscribers

• Hulu and YouTube launched live TV streaming services last year;
• The companies have around 450,000 and 300,000 live TV streaming services subscribers, respectively;
• An analyst suggests that both companies will likely struggle to grow their customer base in the future.

YouTube and Hulu gained hundreds of thousands of Live TV streaming service subscribers, according to CNBC, based on information familiar with the matter.

Last year, YouTube and Hulu launched live streaming services to compete with top cable companies. It’s too early to determine if both companies could beat cable companies and attract their subscribers to switch. However, the numbers show that they are making progress.

Sources said YouTube Live streaming service has more than 300 subscribers while Hulu has around 450 subscribers excluding promotional customers. The companies haven’t released their official subscriber numbers.

YouTube TV costs $35 a month while Hulu with Live TV costs $39.99 a month. Both streaming services offer a combination of live events, news, and sports from different TV networks. In addition, YouTube TV is now available in more than 80 percent of U.S. households. The company launched its service in April. On the other hand, Hulu launched the beta version of its live service in May with 50 channels.

Rich Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG, suggested that YouTube and Hulu will likely experience difficulties to increase their customer base. He noted that it’s easy for a customer to cancel their subscription. The analyst also added that the value proposition of live TV streaming service is not very good compared to video on demand.

Greenfield said, "If you don't care about live sports, the original Hulu product is awesome. You can get all of the programmings you want for more than $30 less. And YouTube is free. It actually shows you how poor the value proportion is for live TV." He also noted that it is hard to cancel cable and satellite TV services. According to him, "You can cancel these live streaming services with four clicks of a button. Have you tried canceling your cable?"

Take note that Hulu Plus costs only $8 per month. Subscribers can access its online library of TV shows and movies on a wide range of platforms. Earlier this month, the company announced that it has more than 17 million paying customers (on-demand and live TV services) which puts it in a direct competition with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. On top of that, Hulu has recently announced its $20 billion budget at CES 2018.

Are you a user of either of these platforms and how do you feel about their services? Let us know in the comments section below.