Earlier in January, Netflix announced it is hiking prices for 58 million users in the United States by between 13 percent and 18 percent. (The platform hasn’t raised prices since 2017, when it upped the cheapest plan by a dollar and the premium plan by two.) On Wednesday, Hulu announced it is dropping the cost of its most basic plan — read: the one with ads — from $7.99 to $5.99 per month.
In addition to the 25 percent decrease, Hulu also announced it’s keeping its ad-free plan price the same, at $11.99. Which is still cheaper, mind you, than the $13 Netflix is going to soon charge users. Hulu’s Live TV plan, the basic subscription with over 60 broadcast and cable channels, is getting a 13 percent price hike. Instead of $39.99, it’ll now cost $44.99. This makes Hulu’s Live TV option no longer the most cost-efficient cord-cut offering from a streaming service; instead putting it about on par, or priced above, offerings from YouTube ($40) and DirectTV (starts at $40).
The Hulu cost changes mean you now have two things to consider when deciding if you’re going to choose just one streaming service: What it’ll cost you and also which Fyre Festival documentary you want to be able to stream?