Hulu to finally offer offline viewing on iPhones & iPads within next year
Catching up with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, Hulu will enable offline video caching sometime within the next year, the company revealed at a Wednesday event in New York City.
In a twist, subscribers on the Limited Commercials plan will have to download ads at the same time, according to TechCrunch. No other video streaming service requires people to watch ads when offline, and customers won't be able to fast-forward through them.
The Limited Commercials plan is $7.99 per month though, whereas No Commercials is $11.99, and the full Hulu package with live TV is $39.99. Hulu is also the preferred service of major networks like Fox and NBC, making it the only place some content is consistently available, even excluding original shows like "The Handmaid's Tale."
Advertising metrics will be tracked using Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings.
Offline caching is often an extremely important feature for streaming subscribers, since people watching on mobile devices like iPhones may need it for traveling, poor cellular connections, or avoiding data caps. Many iPad owners have Wi-Fi-only models and may not otherwise be able to watch video away from home.
Apple is working on its own slate of original TV shows, expected to premiere in 2019. These include things like an adapation of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" novels, a reboot of Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories," and a sketch comedy show with Kristin Wiig.
What remains in the dark is how Apple plans to broadcast. Unlike "Planet of the Apps" and "Carpool Karaoke," they're expected to be available outside of Apple Music. One rumor is that they will be available on every iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV through the company's "TV" app.
In a twist, subscribers on the Limited Commercials plan will have to download ads at the same time, according to TechCrunch. No other video streaming service requires people to watch ads when offline, and customers won't be able to fast-forward through them.
The Limited Commercials plan is $7.99 per month though, whereas No Commercials is $11.99, and the full Hulu package with live TV is $39.99. Hulu is also the preferred service of major networks like Fox and NBC, making it the only place some content is consistently available, even excluding original shows like "The Handmaid's Tale."
Advertising metrics will be tracked using Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings.
Offline caching is often an extremely important feature for streaming subscribers, since people watching on mobile devices like iPhones may need it for traveling, poor cellular connections, or avoiding data caps. Many iPad owners have Wi-Fi-only models and may not otherwise be able to watch video away from home.
Apple is working on its own slate of original TV shows, expected to premiere in 2019. These include things like an adapation of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" novels, a reboot of Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories," and a sketch comedy show with Kristin Wiig.
What remains in the dark is how Apple plans to broadcast. Unlike "Planet of the Apps" and "Carpool Karaoke," they're expected to be available outside of Apple Music. One rumor is that they will be available on every iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV through the company's "TV" app.
Comments
I laughed at this phrase...it's not that hard to catch up to Amazon in this area. I rarely find anything I'd like to watch on Prime Video that is available for download on an iOS device. In fact, I just did a quick search of some Prime movies that would be nice to download for an upcoming road trip, and none of the ten I was interested in were available for download. In addition, there is no search function that allows you to browse only Prime movies and shows available for download. I understand which movies and shows are available for download are subject to license agreements, but it's a joke for Amazon to tout downloading select titles to a device as a "feature" when so few are actually available for download.
As to downloading, any time I am where there is no WiFi or LTE I am not watching TV.
With the Disney-Fox and AT&T- Time-Warner deals pending, there will soon be big changes in the ownership of Hulu as Comcast, Disney, Fox and Time-Warner are the current owners. AT&T might well be willing to sell the Time Warner stake and Disney will be getting Fox’s share if that deal goes through- leaving just Comcast and Disney and I get the impression that Disney wants Hulu to itself. Bob Iger is already pulling Disney/ABC content from Netflix and my guess Hulu exclusives might be the destination.
Hulu could be a very different thing in a couple of months if these pending media deals go through.
Using DTVN, but still want a la carte. I have Amazon Prime but rarely watch it.
No idea about Hulu, but the Amazon Prime app has got to be one of the worst designed apps for the Apple TV.
It is incredibly slow to load and progress to the next episode on a series. It is very finicky with the connection and the video freezes and goes low-res very frequently.
It has odd behaviour like the video freezing, but the audio playing.
The Netflix app, on the other hand, exhibits none of those issues. It does have it's own niggles, but those are done to the UI and have nothing to do with issues when actually streaming video.
I think the Amazon Prime Video app is held together with glue and bits of thread.