Ever since Hulu announced that it was launching a subscription service, called Hulu Plus, for its video streaming content, Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) shareholders have been wondering if that move would steal subscribers (and revenue) from Netflix.
While the first month's data won't be available until later this summer -- Hulu Plus launched at the end of June, after all -- there is one interesting report that indicates Netflix is not standing still. According to data just released from comScore, Netflix's unique visitors to its website for June edged out the number visiting Hulu, 20.2 million to 19.7 million.
Not only that, but those Netflix visitors logged more time on the site, 662 million minutes, compared to the 598 minutes Hulu's visitors stayed. That's a sharp drop off for Hulu and the first time in over a year that Netflix has outpaced Hulu on this metric.
Granted, time visited doesn't directly translate to time spent watching streaming video content. After all, visitors to Netflix are also looking for content and arranging their movie-viewing queues. Similarly, visitors to Hulu are researching content themselves. However, Netflix has steadily been increasing the number of subscribers streaming content, growing from 28% at the end of 2008 to 55% at the end of last quarter, and that higher number bodes well for an even higher percentage to be reported next week.
Netflix still offers the better deal at $8.99 per month for ad-free streaming and DVDs-by-mail compared to $9.99 per month for ad-containing streaming from Hulu and Netflix's recommendation engine is a strong plus. Add in the fact that it carries much of the same content that Hulu does and a lot that it does not, and Hulu's owners, Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), and General Electric (NYSE: GE), might have waited too long to make the switch from ad-based revenue to a subscription-based model.
Which can only be good for Netflix shareholders.
