US TV on-demand giant Hulu has announced plans to introduce offline downloads. In an effort to keep pace with Netflix and Amazon Prime, the streaming service will launch the download facility later this year.
Unfortunately, for some of the firm’s 20 million paying customers, it won’t be the seamless, uninterrupted experience offered by the aforementioned duo.
On the ad-supported tier, Hulu is going to be adding the same pre-roll commercials to the downloaded content, you’d be seeing if you were watching the shows over the web.
So, while you might be able to download a season of NBC’s This Is Us for a sob-a-thon on a long haul flight, you’re still going to get those pesky ads. And you won’t be able to fast-forward through them either.
Thankfully, if you’re forking over a few dollars extra for the no commercials tier, you won’t be burdened by advertisements when utilising offline playback.
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The offline downloads launch might even prove to be an incentive for those ad-supported customers to upgrade to the commercial-free tier.
Hulu hasn’t announced which shows will be available, but says the feature will be here for the 2018-19 season.
“We will not only be live and on demand, but also untethered and on-the-go anytime, anywhere. No Wi-Fi needed,” said Hulu CEO Randy Freer (via TechCrunch).
Elsewhere the company is also planning to insert dynamic ads into its Live TV offering later this year. Advertisers will be able to target subscribers based on their viewing habits.
Amid all this bad news about ads, how about a development that’s sure to keep some Hulu subscribers engaged for the foreseeable further? The Handmaid’s Tale has been renewed for Season 3.
Is Season 2 living up to expectations? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
