Hulu Plus Arrives on Seven Android Tablets. With a Brand New Style.
Today marks a very special day for us at Hulu. From the beginning, our focus has been to bring the world's most beloved TV shows and movies to entertainment fans whenever they want, wherever they want.
Context & Ripple Effects
Hulu's Android tablet push has been slow and device-by-device: the service first reached Android in June 2011 through a six-device launch that drew criticism for its narrow hardware support. The new seven-tablet rollout pairs that widening footprint with a full interface redesign — a response to the bar Netflix set in November 2011, when it shipped its redesigned tablet experience across Android and promised an iPad version.
First-order effects
- Owners of the seven supported tablets get Hulu Plus's subscription catalog natively on-device for the first time, closing the gap with the iPad app that had been the reference Android-tablet streaming experience.
- The redesigned UI becomes Hulu's new standard look, so every future platform port inherits it rather than the older phone-era interface.
Second-order effects
- Netflix's November 2011 tablet redesign forced this response: subscription video services are now competing on interface quality per device tier, not just catalog breadth, raising the cost of supporting fragmented Android hardware.
- Each newly supported device widens the audience Hulu can show prospective buyers — significant while unconfirmed reports from late 2011 said Disney and Comcast were weighing whether to sell Hulu at all after bids came in below expectations.
Third-order effects
- If per-device launches remain the norm, Android fragmentation keeps subscription video apps gated by OEM deals rather than open distribution — pushing the industry toward tiered hardware architecture where premium services certify specific devices instead of shipping universally.
The trend: Subscription video services are racing to normalize their Android presence device-by-device, with interface redesigns becoming the competitive currency as catalogs converge.