Hulu today announced a handful of improvements to the front-end of its streaming platform, with the goal being to get more of what you want to watch in front of you faster. It's a mix of human curation, it says, along with algorithmic results.
The improvements initially are rolling out to Hulu on Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android TV, TVs from LG, Samsung and Vizio, Chromecast, and in Hulu's web player.
Notably missing are Roku and Apple TV, though Hulu does say more devices will be added.
From Hulu's presser :
This summer, we rolled out several improvements to our recommendation engine. For example, Hulu now considers when you watch and what you watch on to inform the recommendations that we serve to you. And over the next few months, we'll be introducing even more enhancements to improve the way you search for and discover content — making it easier for you to revisit old favorites, find new ones, and even give us direct feedback on what you like and what you don't.
So what's Hulu giving us? For starters you'll begin to see like/dislike buttons so that you can give direct feedback on something you watch. If you "like" something, you'll see more suggestions of the same ilk. "Dislike" something and you'll see less of it. That's pretty standard stuff, really — just something Hulu hasn't had until now.
Hulu also will change up the home screen experience based on what you watch. If you never watch kids' shows, they'll get pushed further down the page, for example. That'll make it more important to use multiple profiles on Hulu , if you're not already.
Search is getting beefed up, too, with things like abbreviations taking the place of longer names, so "HIMYM" would return "How I Met Your Mother."
That's all fairly standard stuff, but important stuff, and something that'll make Hulu better for everyone.
Streaming bliss
All the shows
Hulu has long been a go-to service for all kinds of great movies and shows — including The Handmaid's Tale and others. And now it's a leader in live streaming video, too.
