Six months after launching its live TV service, Hulu acknowledged the need for improvements to its redesigned app. While updates have addressed highlighting new episodes and surfacing live events, Hulu introduced a straightforward channel guide for the web version of its live TV player to enhance user experience. This article provides a comprehensive overview of where to find the Hulu guide and what to expect from it.
“One of our key learnings from our Live TV viewers is that our live content feels, at times, hidden or harder to get to than you would like,” Ben Smith, Hulu’s head of experience, explained. Addressing user feedback, Hulu enhanced the UI to make it easier to see what’s on now, what’s on next, and change the channel while you watch.
Accessing the Hulu Guide on the Web
The new guide is easily accessible on the web. While watching live TV, a new icon in the lower left corner allows you to bring up the guide. Alternatively, hovering your cursor near the left side of the browser window will also reveal the guide. It displays the current programming for each channel, and clicking the right arrow next to each show provides a preview of what’s up next.
Hulu Channel Guide Interface
Hulu Guide Availability Across Platforms
Currently, the new guide is exclusively available on Hulu’s web player, which remains in beta. Hulu plans to learn from user interaction with the web version before rolling it out to additional platforms in the coming months.
This means that users accessing Hulu on mobile devices, streaming boxes, and game consoles will not see the new guide. For these users, the “My Channels” section on the primary Home tab or the exhaustive listing of every live channel under “Networks” in the Browse section serve as alternatives. However, it is anticipated that Hulu aims to adapt and introduce this guide to other platforms in the future.
Impact of Hulu’s Redesign
Despite initial criticism, Ben Smith noted positive outcomes from the Hulu redesign. He stated that viewers are spending 5 percent more time with Hulu and discovering a greater number of new TV series and movies. Recent improvements have also led to a 70 percent increase in live content viewership since August.
In conclusion, the Hulu guide is currently available on the web player, offering an improved experience for live TV viewers. While it is not yet accessible on other platforms, Hulu intends to expand its availability in the future.
