Why We Cancelled Our Hulu Plus Subscription

By Wesley Fryer On January 1, 2012 · · 8 Comments

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Today we cancelled our family trial subscription to Hulu Plus. Last week I shared my excitement at being able to use the free Hulu Plus iPad app and “mirror” from an iPad2 on Apple TV to watch TV programs on our television. In the end, however, the regular ADVERTISING in Hulu Plus (along with the additional monthly cost) proved too disagreeable to justify continuing our trial subscription. (Clarification: My wife and kids are the primary consumers of TV shows in our house. I watch every once in awhile, but not very often. I’m much more of a movie guy.)

Before our online cancellation request went through, Hulu tried one last time to keep us as subscribers.

Hulu also gave us a parting survey to explain why we cancelled.

After almost a year of NOT having cable TV at home and watching mainly Netflix programs, our family has become really sensitized to television commercials. The movie theater is about the only place we see ads anymore, before the feature film begins. Hulu and Hulu Plus may be cutting edge, Internet-based television… but it’s based in part on a “business-as-usual” model of force-feeding ads to customers. Having tasted ad-free movie and television program watching, however, it’s almost impossible to “go back” and accept so much forced advertising.

Bottom line: We reject Hulu and Hulu Plus because we dislike forced advertising. We’re sticking with Netflix!

Technorati Tags: hulu, tv, netflix, streaming, ad, advertising

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On this day..

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Jerihurd

I agree, Wes. I dropped my cable a few months ago, and now feed my serial TV and online film needs with Netflix and occasional purchases on iTunes. Even te ads in movie theatres annoy me no end, as I’m old enough to

remember when they’re weren’t any!
Bob S.

Netflix is great, I´ve never tried Hulu but based on your post I am hardly tempted to do so. It is really hard to go back to advertising, like you said, once you are used not to be interrupted. I could watch it all for free but if I choose to pay it´s because I expect a better service.
http://twitter.com/ingridtech Ingrid Gustafson

We’ve been without cable for over a year as well with Netflix as our primary way of seeing things and Hulu for the regular shows not on Netflix yet. I thought HuluPlus got you a free pass on the ads, but appears not!
Chris

You are comparing apples & oranges with Hulu Plus and Netflix
RockStar

Been thinking about getting Hulu Plus but like you said I hate commercials!

I have Netflix on all my devices and use my $89 WD Media Player Live streaming player 99% of the time. It can stream Netflix and we use it mostly for watching movies and commercial free TV shows we get off the Pirate Bay Yes I am a Pirate and proud!

But if you plan of using a torrent site like Pirate Bay just make sure to use the firefox plugin “NoScript” to prevent viruses in case the site gets hacked. This happened to me once and also to my cousin.Also use Peerblock program in case you decide to download any new movies that havent been released on DVD yet that the movie studios might track. If they track it.. the worst that can happen is that they send a notice to your isp and they tell you to not do it again or they will cancel your service. But with Peerblock it will stop that from happening.We get movies from Pirate Bay that havent even been released on DVD yet and even some that arent in the theaters yet as well.
Ceolas

I cancelled my HuluPlus. When I first joined with the free subscription, we only had one 30 second ad per show. Once I began paying, the ads continually increased and as of yesterday…3 and 4 ads per intermission. That’s ridiculous and I’m not going to pay for advertising since I am perfectly capable of knowing what I want or need to buy without any outside coercion. Cable is just as bad…mostly advertisements, then mindless and trashy reality shows. Sick of it. The only subscription I have is with Netflix and I do watch the free media on amazon.com since I’m a prime member. However, even amazon is providing less now for their prime members so beware. I may be cancelling amazon prime as well.
Advertising works because of the numerous mindless people who respond to it. Take charge of your own mind and wallet. It’s truly pathetic that anyone would be willing to PAY for any service that is mostly advertising. Come on folks, wake up!
Ceolas

I cancelled my HuluPlus. When I first joined with the free subscription, we only had one 30 second ad per show. Once I began paying, the ads continually increased and as of yesterday…3 and 4 ads per intermission. That’s ridiculous and I’m not going to pay for advertising since I am perfectly capable of knowing what I want or need to buy without any outside coercion. Cable is just as bad…mostly advertisements, then mindless and trashy reality shows. Sick of it. The only subscription I have is with Netflix and I do watch the free media on amazon.com since I’m a prime member. However, even amazon is providing less now for their prime members so beware. I may be cancelling amazon prime as well.
Advertising works because of the numerous mindless people who respond to it. Take charge of your own mind and wallet. It’s truly pathetic that anyone would be willing to PAY for any service that is mostly advertising. Come on folks, wake up!
http://twitter.com/hardtohandle hardtohandle

I agree. We’re in our second month of HuluPlus, and we’ve watched several movies and tv shows without commercials, very few seem to have the ads. I don’t know whether it’s random or there’s a formula, but I also protest paying for service and getting ads. Back in the day, cable tv wasn’t supposed to have commercials, either. But we have ads on top of paying for it and no one seems to protest that. We’ve given HuluPlus a second chance, but if it interrupts the program I’m watching one more time, I’m calling tomorrow to cancel it.