Hulu Likely Still in Red in 2020 but Valuable Disney Asset, nScreenMedia Says

Hulu's advertising and subscriber growth likely won't be enough to make the streaming service profitable by 2020, but it's still valuable to Disney, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Tuesday. He said paid subscribers likely are 17 percent of Hulu's customer base, with the rest watching the ad-supported version, meaning last year it likely had $1.6 billion in subscriber revenue and just shy of $1 billion from ad sales. Even if its projections for results of 30 million subscribers, 40 percent watching ad-free and generating $5.6 billion in sub revenue in 2020 doesn't have Hulu in the black, the service provides value for Disney by being a bridge for viewers to the direct-to-consumer future. Hulu didn't comment Wednesday.