Hulu CEO Jason Kilar is having a good year — at least, to hear him tell it.
In a blog post yesterday titled “A Big 2012,” Kilar bragged that the popular online TV hub had topped 3 million paying customers for its Hulu Plus service — more than double the figure from a year ago.
At a cost of $7.99 a month, that would have Hulu Plus earning around $288 million a year in subscription fees. The premium service started in November 2010 with about 500,000 users.
The growth in subscribers helped Hulu on the ad front. The company said its ad revenue jumped 65 percent, to $695 million this year.
Kilar also boasted that Hulu had increased the amount of content available through the service by 40 percent.
Hulu wouldn’t comment on its programming costs for 2013. Last year it said it would spend $500 million on shows. Netflix content costs by comparison are about $2.1 billion a year.
“Hulu should be judged on revenue and profitability like every other company,” said Dan Rayburn, a streaming media expert with Frost & Sullivan. “We don’t know what they spend on content acquisition.”
The five-year-old service offers shows from broadcast and cable outlets. It is owned by Comcast, Disney and News Corp., which also owns The Post.
The firm Providence Equity exited its Hulu investment in October, pocketing $200 million on its $100 million investment.