What Was the Most Popular Show on Hulu in 2018?
Hulu has unveiled its year-end statistics, which means we now have an idea of what people are really streaming in their binge-watching sessions. While the service didn’t reveal precise viewership numbers for either its original shows like Castle Rock or network TV favorites, there were some interesting nuggets of information in the data.
The Handmaid’s Tale is one of the most popular shows on Hulu
No big surprise here. The Handmaid’s Tale, the award-winning adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian feminist tale, is incredibly popular with Hulu subscribers. The Season 2 premiere was the most watched episode on Hulu this year across both original and acquired shows. (Data is based on the on-demand viewing habits of Hulu users between January 1 and October 29, 2018.)
This Is Us was also must-see TV for Hulu’s 20 million+ subscribers. The tear-jerking drama accounted for 2 million binge sessions of five hours or more.
Law & Order: SVU was the most watched legal drama on Hulu in 2018, with 258 million episodes streamed. The long-running NBC drama was also a top pick for late-night binging. Medical dramas were also popular, with subscribers streaming 100 million hours of ER, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Good Doctor. Last year, 35,000 people watched every single one of ER’s 331 episodes, executives revealed last May.
Among animated shows for adults, the big winners were Family Guy, South Park, and Bob’s Burgers. (South Park was the most popular show on Hulu in 2017.) Kids tuned in to Teen Titans Go!
The most popular movies on Hulu
Hulu doesn’t have a huge movie library, but subscribers still found a few films to keep them entertained. I, Tonya, Baywatch, and Transformers: The Last Knight were the most popular films of 2018 on Hulu, with more than 27 million streams.
Hulu subscribers’ favorite sports teams
Hulu’s $40-a-month live TV option doesn’t have nearly the number of subscribers as its traditional streaming service. As of September, about 1 million people had signed up. The service lets people watch live sports, and these were the most popular teams among viewers who tuned in frequently:
- Washington Capitals
- New England Patriots
- George Bulldogs
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Boston Red Sox
What’s coming to Hulu in 2019?
Hulu has renewed its most popular original show The Handmaid’s for Season 3, but a release date hasn’t yet been announced. In the meantime, you can look forward to Season 2 of Future Man, a comedy starring Josh Hutcherson (Peeta in The Hunger Games), which premieres January 11, 2019.
Kat Dennings of 2 Broke Girls will star in Dollface, a new 10-episode comedy for Hulu that will begin production in 2019. The show “follows a young woman who – after being dumped by her longtime boyfriend – must deal with her own imagination in order to literally and metaphorically re-enter the world of women.”
Wu-Tang: An American Saga is an upcoming Hulu drama series about the true story of the Wu-Tang Clan. It’s co-created and written by The RZA. The streaming service has also acquired Ask Dr. Ruth, a documentary about America’s most famous sex therapist. It will premiere sometime in 2019.
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