Hulu will reportedly offer a more expensive ad-free option later this year

Those of you that have never experienced Hulu may not know this, but despite charging an $8-a-month subscription, the video streaming service actually features ads. Now, it’s nowhere near as bad as traditional broadcast channels, but it’s a stark contrast to Hulu’s biggest competitor, Netflix, which only occasionally promotes their own in-house shows from time to time.

Well, it seems Hulu could be wising up with The Wall Street Journal reporting that the company is now exploring the possibility of introducing a premium ad-free option for those willing to pay a little more for their subscription. The new tier which is known internally as NOAH (No Ads Hulu) is said to launch this fall for around $12 to $14 a month.

Despite costing 50% more than the regular tier, apparently Hulu isn’t too keen on the idea of ad-free viewing, for fear it would cannibalize their lower tier. We think they should be more worried about users moving over to Netflix who, according to the latest numbers, has more than 65 million subscribers world-wide, while Hulu sits at about 9 million. Recently, Hulu made some pretty big deals, securing Showtime content for an additional $9 a month.