In November, Netflix finally introduced something its viewers had been waiting to see for a long time: the ability to download movies and TV shows so they can be viewed offline. At the same time, Hulu said it was working on introducing a similar feature, but details were fairly scarce. Now, the company’s CEO, Mike Hopkins, has given the streaming service’s subscribers a rough idea of how long the wait will be.
“Yes, it’s definitely on our road map. It’s something that we’re going to be doing in a few months,” Hopkins said in an interview with Adweek, speaking about offline playback. “We’re working hard on the technology around that and getting the rights squared away.”
While that vague idea is a far cry from a release date or even a window, it’s likely welcome news to a large number of the company’s subscribers. In November, Ben Smith, Hulu’s senior vice president and head of experience, spoke at Open Mobile Summit, telling the audience that the service has a large number of users who watch Hulu using only their mobile devices. This is the exact type of viewer that offline viewing is a key feature for, as not every area has fast enough data for streaming, if you can even get a signal at all.
How can I watching TV shows and movies from Hulu or Netflix while being offline on my iPad or Nexus? To Watch Netflix on the Go; Downloading TV shows and movies. Breaking Bad isn’t just one of the best shows you can download on. And given that The CW recently stopped their next-day airing on Hulu, this is a massive victory for Netflix in the ongoing. Whether these agreements are legal or violating them is illegal is something for the local courts, but it's clear you should not expect to use these services to download or time-shift the content. At the moment, your iPad can rent or buy content for offline viewing and Amazon also has a decent selection of downloadable content. Replay Media Catcher can save streaming video to your hard drive for offline viewing. Unfortunately, Hulu, Fancast, and similar video-on-demand services don't allow you to download their media.
Another thing that isn’t yet clear is exactly what will be available to stream. In the case of Netflix, not everything available on the service can be viewed offline. Even for items that can be viewed offline, there is generally an availability window after which they are rendered useless. Hulu has yet to confirm its offline viewing would work this way, but considering the rights issues Hopkins mentioned, it seems extremely likely.
Another long-awaited feature, user profiles, is finally being added to Hulu. Initially only available on the web version of the service, it has begun to roll out to other platforms, like its mobile app, and should be available on all versions of the app soon.
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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.
Can You Download Hulu Shows To Watch Offline Free
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.
Can You Download Shows From Hulu
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.