Taking a page from Netflix, Hulu promotes original shows for 2014

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- There are two faces to Hulu, the online video hub owned by the parent companies of ABC, Fox and NBC.

 

Hulu is a destination for next-day repeats of TV shows that have already aired on those and other networks. But for a variety of business reasons, it's becoming harder for Hulu to hold onto those shows.

 

So Hulu is increasingly also a home for TV shows that it can call its own -- ones that haven't been on other networks before. That's the face it wants to show the world.

 

On Wednesday, Hulu announced a lineup of programming for the New Year that it says is its most extensive to date.

 

Among the announcements were second seasons of three shows it launched in 2013: \"The Awesomes,\" \"Behind the Mask\" and \"Quick Draw.\"

 

Hulu also set a premiere date, April 9, for \"Deadbeat,\" a supernatural comedy that it is co-producing with Lionsgate Television.

 

With the announcements, Hulu is seeking to promote its original programming — just like Netflix, its much bigger rival — and move the spotlight away from the shows it \"borrows\" from other networks.

 

Earlier this week, ABC placed new restrictions on the TV episodes it provides to Hulu: previously, episodes of shows like \"Scandal\" were up on Hulu for free the morning after they premiered on television. Now the episodes are only available the next day to people who pay for Hulu's monthly subscription service, called Hulu Plus, or who log in through a participating cable or satellite distributor. The episodes are available for free a week later. Fox implemented similar restrictions 2011.

 

In essence, ABC and Fox are trying to keep paying subscribers — whether to cable or Hulu Plus — happy and encouraging more people to pay.

 

So it's only logical that Hulu wants to emphasize its original shows. The Web site's first in-house original show, Morgan Spurlock's \"A Day In The Life,\" was released in August 2011. Since then it has launched a number of modest but interesting series, like the election comedy \"Battleground\" and the British import \"Moone Boy.\" Hulu said Wednesday that the second season of \"Moone Boy\" will debut on the site sometime this spring.

 

When I recently interviewed Charlotte Koh, the head of development for Hulu Originals, she said the biggest hits have been \"The Awesomes,\" an animated series from \"SNL\" star Seth Meyers and producer Mike Shoemaker, and \"The Wrong Mans,\" a comedy that Hulu shares with the BBC. (Like Netflix, however, Hulu doesn't release any ratings information for its shows.)

 

\"Initially, we were very successful at doing premium content distribution for other people. And as time went on, it made sense for us to have things that were uniquely and distinctly ours,\" Koh said.

 

She said Hulu is \"really grateful\" to have repeats from the networks of its owners as well as partners like the CW and Univision. Those repeats often bring people through the proverbial door: \"It's sort of like the supermarket,\" she said, \"you always go in because you know you're going to buy some milk, but you might try some new brand of cookies.\"

 

But she said that broadly speaking, Hulu is \"moving from being a pipe that carries other people's stuff to a service that has a personality and more of a personal relationship with our end user. And I think that's an important evolution for us as a company.\"