Spotify and Hulu are teaming up to combine both of their streaming services into a single education bundle for only $4.99 per month. That’s a pretty remarkable deal for students. The offer pairs Spotify Premium and Hulu’s on-demand streaming plan (yes, with ads) at a price cheaper than either would cost individually to regular customers. Spotify’s student plan is already $4.99 monthly, so you’re basically getting Hulu tossed in for free. You can sign up here: https://www.spotify.com/us/student/
If you already have Spotify Premium for Students, you can now activate the Hulu side. And if you’ve got a regular Hulu subscription (with no add-ons), you can merge that with your education Spotify account. The offer is only available in the US.
But this is just the beginning of what sounds like a major partnership between the two companies, and soon it will expand to include all consumers in some form — not just students. Spotify and Hulu describe the education deal as a “first step” in bundling their services together and promise “offerings targeted at the broader market to follow.” Two popular services are trying to create an irresistible combo.
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Spotify’s own original video efforts have been floundering a bit; the company’s head of podcasts and video recently departed and was replaced by an executive hired away from Disney. Like Apple, Spotify isn’t finding it easy to create compelling video to go alongside its huge music catalog. Coming together with Hulu doesn’t necessarily mean that Spotify is giving up on original video or shifting its strategy, however; these are still fundamentally two different services. But pushing people towards an already-popular video service is nowhere near as daunting as having to produce your own must-see shows. Hulu now offers a live TV service as well, but that’s not part of this initial two-for-the-price-of-one pairing.
The partnership between Spotify and Hulu comes amid a wave of carrier/content combos that have formed over the last couple years. AT&T has DirecTV and HBO. Verizon has the NFL. Sprint is pushing Tidal. And just yesterday, T-Mobile announced a new offer for free Netflix. Perhaps Spotify and Hulu view working together as their best chance at fending off those offerings.
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