Hulu Preparing Offline Viewing And Downloadable Episodes

Hulu is late to the party in its preparation of offering offline viewing and downloadable episodes, but they just might be the first to change the game. As many who utilize the service on Netflix and Amazon already know, subscribers are very limited to what they can download on the service, and very rarely is anything offered that isn't an original series owned by the service.

Hulu could be the first to offer offline episodes from actual television networks, but there is a catch. Hulu will also be the first streaming service to offer advertising in offline viewing, which will likely be the incentive for networks to finally get on board with offline viewing.

Arstechnica reported that while premium subscribers will still get the ad-free experience when they download shows, those who get ads on the platform will physically download the ads onto their device for offline viewing. Think of it like unskippable DVR programs, except without an internet connection. 

I'll be honest it's far from ideal, but in my opinion, worth it for the amount of shows that will soon be available to watch offline. Yeah, ads suck, but they get people paid, and when those people get paid, they'll be more willing to give their customers their quality content.

Hulu has not given a specific timeframe for when the feature will release, but subscribers should expect a rollout between 2018 to 2019.