Hulu Plus has hit six million subscribers, Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins announced at the company’s newfront presentation to advertisers.
The company also announced that it has ordered a second season of the supernatural series “Deadbeat.”
Also read: ‘House of Cards’ Helps Netflix Add 4 Million New Subscribers in Q1
Hulu Plus is the paid subscription service of Hulu, a streaming service owned by NBCUniversal, Fox Broadcasting Company and Disney-ABC Television Group. Its competitors include Amazon Prime and Netflix.
Netflix announced last week that it has more than 46 million paying subscribers, 34 million of them in the United States. Amazon Prime has not released numbers, but analysts have estimated it has at least 20 million.
Also read: Amazon Prime Prices Increase for First Time
Hulu Plus also announced that the original series “The Hotwives of Orlando” will premiere on July 15. It features Casey Wilson, Angela Kinsey and Kristen Schaal, with special performances by Kate Walsh, Weird Al Yankovic, Joey McIntyre, Stephen Tobolowsky and Paul Scheer. “Hotwives,” produced by Emmy-winning producer Jonathan Stern and Scheer, comes from Paramount Digital Entertainment, the studio behind the online comedy series “Burning Love.”
The company also announced the May 28 premiere of the dance series “The Next Step,” a reality-style teen drama following the lives of a group of dancers. The production from Temple Street (“Orphan Black”) is created and executive produced by Frank Van Keeken.
Hulu has previously announced second season renewals for “Behind the Mask,” “Quick Draw,” “East Los High” and Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker’s “The Awesomes.”
Meyers and Schur both turned up at the presentation, which was hosted by Meyers’ former “Weekend Update” co-anchor on “Saturday Night Live,” Cecily Strong.
Several others whose shows stream on Hulu after they run on broadcast television also appeared. They included Mindy Kaling of “The Mindy Project” and Gillian Jacobs and Danny Pudi of “Community.” The band Capital Cities performed.