Hulu And Funimation Partner Up For A "First-Look" Anime Deal
A giant streaming company, Hulu, has partnered up with anime distributor Funimation and created a "First-Look" deal. Here are the details of what this partnership brings to the table.
Streaming company Hulu has partnered up with anime distributor Funimation and created an exclusive "first-look" deal. This partnership means distributing new titles that are licensed and produced by Funimation to the Hulu catalog, starting in 2019.
Variety states that this deal is one of the consequences after the deal with Funimation and Crunchyroll finalized earlier this season. This new deal means that Hulu will have priority on the United States video-on-demand series that Funimation distributes and licenses. Hulu and Funimation will be the first companies to receive the new subtitled anime series that simulcast from Japan, dubbed versions will eventually find their way as well.
Hulu is aiming to obtain more than 20 seasons of simulcast anime per year, without counting the dubbed versions. As of right now, Hulu and Funimation are the only platforms that stream both subbed and dubbed versions of the top anime series like My Hero Academia or Attack on Titan.
Funimation president, Gen Fukunaga says this deal "will fuel the acquisition of new titles and provide both Funimation and Hulu subscribers with access to the very best in anime that Japan has to offer." The difference between these two companies will be the demographic they are targeting.
Hulu wants to target a broader market with general audience and Funimation aims to hit the hard-core anime fans. However, they will be offering the same anime titles. Keep it here for future updates in this deal.