Hulu’s Freemium Headache: App Store Customers Drop Hulu Plus Ratings

Is iTunes  converting Amazon customers because Hulu is taking a community beating that’s usually reserved for Amazon. If you’re lost about this beating, just take a look at the Hulu Plus App Store page. Hulu fans are voicing their complaints against Hulu Plus loud and clear using the App Store rating system.

Hulu Plus was announced last week as a premium service to Hulu. It extends access of Hulu’s content to your mobile gadgets like the iPad, iPhone, and your TV.  Apparently, thousands of people visiting the App Store didn’t get the memo. Instead, fans are calling foul on the Hulu Plus app by giving it 1-star ratings (5000+ times) and leaving plenty of reasons to the app and stick with the desktop.

Hulu Plus: Bait & Switch In Disguise?

To anyone that has never heard of Hulu, Hulu Plus appears to be a bait-and-switch. On the Hulu Plus iTunes page you won’t immediately see the full app description where it casually mentions a $9.99 subscription to access the content. There’s also nothing to note that this is a free app, but premium service until you download it. Unfortunately for Hulu, this is making their strategy seem more like a bait-and-switch to first-timers. The confusing experience and negative reviews are inevitably cutting into the amount of first-time users that would convert well to desktop junkies.

Freemium Headache

The lack of real free content from the app is putting others on the defense, especially because some of same content is free from your computer.

Because I am on an iPad I have to pay, but on a desktop I don’t… In what universe does this make sense? – fakehead 6/29

Offering full seasons is great, but not offering free content is insulting. Why can I not access all the same content that is free on flash enabled devices? – Parabolee77 6/29

Good thing there’s a trial for this. Too many commercials for the brief time I tried playing with it. If I scrub to find content, I get another commercial. You want people to pay for this? No thanks.  – RudestBuddhist 6/29

Yet Pandora, Grooveshark, and Spotify all have mobile apps that adopts elements of this business model too. Why aren’t Pandora’s ratings suffering? Maybe because the best parts of it are free. At least when you pay for their premium service you won’t continue to hear or see ads.

What Should Hulu Do?

Be honest and admit that they’re figuring things out. From a business perspective I applaud Hulu’s efforts. A $10 per month price tag is a great deal, a steal even for Hulu lovers. However, the lack of good free content and persistent ads are disappointments for many.

1. What is the first step you would take in a situation like this?
2. Are App Store users in the wrong for their comments?

Suggestions For Hulu:

• Change the first line of the app store listing to note that this app only works with a subscription. Not many people will reads past “read more” of a free app in the App Store.
• Nix the ads. That’s what people generally pay to see disappear the most.