Hulu, a streaming video-on-demand company, announced it’s dropping the name “Plus” from its premium subscription option. Hulu’s products, both free and paid versions, will be called Hulu. In an email to subscribers, Hulu says:

“Though the name is changing, your subscription is not. You’ll still be a subscriber with all the benefits that come with that. You can keep on watching your favorite shows on all your devices – without having to change a thing. Same great stuff. Slightly different name.”

Hulu revealed the plan to rebrand this spring, but finally made the change this week, announcing it to subscribers via email. In an April 29 article on Variety.com, Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins said the move would help unify the company’s marketing efforts for its subscription and ad-supported services.Currently, registered users have access to unlimited streaming of Hulu’s video collection for free. This service is free to users, but includes “a modest amount of advertising during normal commercial breaks.” For $7.99 a month, subscribers can also watch current and back season shows from ABC, Comedy Central, The CW, FOX, NBC, MTV and Univision. CBS has its own premium service, CBS All Access, for $5.99 a month.The rebranding closely follows a May announcement that Hulu is partnering with AT&T to offer its premium subscription service to AT&T mobile and website customers. This deal will help Hulu expand its audience beyond its current estimated audience of 9 million subscribers, according to Variety.Insider Take:There has been a lot of movement in the streaming video on demand market in the last year, including everything from new product launches to exclusive deals with Apple: Netflix, HBO Now, CBS All Access, Vessel, Vimeo, WWE Network, MLB Network, NBCUniversal, Sony, Amazon Prime, TuYo, Sling TV and Vimeo, just to name a few. Everyone wants their share of the SVOD market, and they are doing so through differentiation, partnerships and exclusive deals.In the grand scheme of the streaming video market, Hulu’s rebranding is not big news. It’s a name change, and seemingly, an unnecessary and perhaps costly one. If anything, it may make things more confusing.Many subscription companies offer free and paid tiers, and most paid tiers have unique names to differentiate their free products from their subscription offerings. Spotify offers Free and Premium, Vimeo offers Vimeo Basic, Vimeo Plus and Vimeo PRO, Financial Times offers standard digital and premium digital in addition to print and digital packages, and Evernote offers Basic, Plus and Premium.We don’t think the name change will hurt Hulu dramatically, but we do think there might be confusion that Hulu offers two products. After logging in as a registered user, the top menu and the slider both invite users to start a free trial.

      Nowhere on the home page does it indicate that Hulu has two products – a free service and a premium option. There is no link to an About Us or FAQ page on the top menu bar. Scrolling to the bottom of the screen, clicking on the Help screen does not immediately indicate the free option. The About Us page explains the paid option in the third paragraph, but the free option isn’t explained until the sixth paragraph.To some, this may seem like a smart marketing strategy, but the elimination of “Plus” in the Hulu name could be viewed by some as more deceptive than is perhaps intended. We encourage all subscription companies, even those with millions of paying customers, to be transparent about products, costs and terms.With so many VOD companies entering the marketplace, there is a lot of competition and entertainment to be found to appeal to almost every taste and budget. Companies that provide quality products and clear, simple, transparent offerings and terms will be more likely to retain its customers.