Cancelling Hulu: A Look at Modern Churn Funnels

Season 2 of The Bear came out, so it was time to pay for Hulu again.

I came in with a game plan - watch the episodes and cancel. Simple enough.

I even paid a little more to remove ads, a small price to pay so I didn't have to hear about car insurance.

After I watched it all (Episode 6 is incredible!), it came time to cut things off.

But clearly Hulu was not a fan of that.

On my account page, the confusion begins.

If you thought "Manage Plan" would include an option to cancel, you would be wrong. There is also an option to "Pause", as if you couldn't resume later if you decide to cancel.

I selected "Cancel Your Subscription" and found this desperate plea.

Did you notice how the options to pause or switch plans are much more prominent than the one to cancel? That was not an accident.

Thankfully I was able to stay on-track and select "Continue To Cancel" in the bottom-right corner.

Things started to look dire for Hulu, so they tried to bribe me. I managed to not fall for it, and once again pressed "Continue To Cancel".

Hulu finally accepted things weren't going to change, so they solicited feedback. I clicked the final "Continue To Cancel".

Why is this acceptable? Why can't we do better as a society?

Regulations and tech are a concerning combo with how out of touch many politicians are, but maybe it's time.