Hulu is knocking 65% off its monthly rates on its ad-supported service for eligible U.S. college students for as long as they stay enrolled.
Starting this week, eligible students over the age of 18 can sign up and get Hulu with ads for $1.99 per month, down from the service’s normal $5.99 per month rate. The company described the offer as an evergreen deal.
Hulu has a history of launching pricing promotions targeted at college students. In 2017, the company partnered with Spotify to offer both services to U.S. students for $4.99 per month.
For Black Friday in 2020, Hulu offered a similar promotion that gave new and eligible returning subscribers – those who haven’t been subscribers for more than three months – the service’s ad-supported plan for $1.99 per month for one year.
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Hulu often rolls out significant discounts for its ad-supported service. In 2019, the company reduced the price by 50% as part of promotion tied to Chrissy Teigen. In late 2018, Hulu rolled out a promotion selling its service for $0.99 per month for a year.
Hulu ended the most recent quarter with 36.6 million total subscribers, 32.5 million of which subscribe to the SVOD-only service. That figure is up 27% annually from 25.6 million in 2019. As Hulu’s SVOD-only subscriber base grows, its average revenue per user has shrunk slightly, down 1% year over year.
Disney attributed Hulu’s ARPU decline to the introduction of the bundled subscription package – which includes Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu for $12.99/month – and lower per-subscriber advertising revenue. The company said the decline was partially offset by a lower mix of wholesale and promotional subscribers.