Inside Hulu's Bold Effort To Reinvent Itself

Inside Hulu's bold effort to reinvent itself via Seinfeld, Mindy Kaling, and a host of buzzy original shows.

- Bruce Fretts, photograph by Dan Monick

On April 29, Jerry Seinfeld took the stage at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom to help TV-streaming service Hulu introduce its new programming to potential advertisers. He was there to make a significant announcement: Hulu had acquired the entire nine-season run of Seinfeld in a deal estimated to be worth $180 million. After breaking the news, the comedian took a few minutes to answer questions from the crowd. “How would Seinfeld be different today?” one audience member asked. “All the media and social and digital capability makes the world a more annoying place,” Seinfeld replied. “What reason would Kramer ever have to come [to Jerry’s apartment]? You lose all of those entrances he could just text me. The whole show goes in the toilet right there.”

Hulu was once at the forefront of entertainment’s big digital shift, but in recent years it has lost momentum, and the