Hulu, unlike its bigger rival Netflix, still depends on commercials for a substantial part of its income, and on Wednesday put on a presentation for advertisers hoping to maintain their interest in sponsoring the platform as it undergoes ownership and design changes.

Hulu announced it now has 26.8 million paid subscribers, and an additional 1.3 million free promotional accounts (many through a partnership with Spotify), totalling over 28 million customers overall. That is an increase of roughly three million since January.

Hulu is still a fraction of the size of its rival Netflix, which has 60.2 million U.S. subscribers and 148.8 million overall worldwide.

The past 12 months have been disruptive for Hulu because of ownership changes. Disney inherited an additional 30% ownership stake from its acquisition of Fox and bought out minority partner AT&T, which itself had acquired a 10% interest in Hulu when it merged with Time Warner (Entertainment). As of this month, Disney controls 67% of Hulu, with Comcast-NBC owning the remaining 33%. Comcast-NBC is said to be looking to sell its minority stake in Hulu, presumably to Disney, giving the owner of ABC and ESPN full ownership.

At the same time, Disney is working towards launching its own streaming platform, Disney+, this November, leading some to wonder what will become of Hulu. The answer came today — both platforms will continue, with an undisclosed price break for those agreeing to subscribe to both Disney+ and Hulu.

Originally a partnership between three of the four major American TV networks, Hulu was the original home for online streaming of current network TV shows. But as those networks drift apart to run their own ventures, Hulu appears to be investing in more original programming to hold viewer interest, but remaining open to advertising — a smaller Netflix with ads.

With so many new streaming services launching, Hulu is positioning itself to reduce customer alienation and try to increase subscriber engagement.

Subscribers will be gently introduced to a new user interface by this summer, with the option of switching back and forth during the test phase, to improve usability.

Peter Naylow, Hulu’s senior vice president and head of ad sales, also announced advertising limits and changes, including:

• No ad breaks over 90 seconds
• Viewers will not see the same ad more than twice per hour
• The same ad will not be seen by viewers more than four times per day
• Advertisers can sponsor ad-free viewing of individual episodes
• Binge viewers may see personalized special offers from sponsors
• Easter Eggs will be scattered on the platform, offering viewers obviously fake shows that, if selected, activate special offers from Hulu and “brand partners.”
• Static ads will appear when viewers pause playback.

For $11.99/month, subscribers can continue to avoid all advertising on the Hulu platform entirely.

New original shows

To maintain viewer interest, Hulu’s partnership with Marvel will give subscribers two new live-action shows: “Marvel’s Ghost Rider” and “Marvel’s Helstrom,” scheduled to debut in 2020. Other Marvel productions will be found on Disney+ (which will cost $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year).

Other productions:

• A new slate of cooking shows
• Made-for-Hulu movies based on Liane Moriarty’s “Nine Perfect Strangers” and “The Dropout” — the story of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, starring Kate McKinnon.

Spotify Premium customers in the U.S. can now get a free subscription to Hulu’s “Limited Commercials” plan just by activating the offer, beginning today.

“Starting today, March 12, you can enjoy Hulu as part of your regular $9.99-per-month Spotify Premium membership,” Spotify shared on its blog. “That’s right, you are getting Hulu on us.”

Spotify provides these details on how to take advantage of the offer, whether you are new to the service or an existing customer:

If you’re already a Spotify Premium user, it only takes a few seconds to add Hulu’s ad-supported plan to your account—just visit the Your Services page. If you’re new to Spotify Premium, sign up for the bundle now at Spotify.com; you’ll get your first thirty days of both Spotify Premium and Hulu on us, then pay $9.99 per month. (Subscribers who are currently paying $12.99 per month as part of last year’s bundle offer will be automatically reduced to the regular Spotify Premium $9.99 price.) Open until June 10, 2019 or while supplies last. Terms apply.

If you already pay for Hulu directly through Hulu, you need to cancel your account on Hulu.com and then reactivate the subscription through Spotify’s website. Spotify claims it is not possible for customers to upgrade to Hulu’s “No Commercials” plan through this deal. The offer is only good in the United States and worse, cannot be redeemed by Spotify Family Plan members who already pay extra to share their Spotify account with other family members.

Still, if you are already a Spotify Premium customer, getting Hulu (with “limited commercials”) for free is not a bad deal.

Hulu could soon be in the hands of Disney, as a high stakes game of asset trading overseas could have a dramatic impact on the streaming service.

After a winning $39 billion bid to acquire British satellite TV company Sky, CNBC reports Comcast is willing to shed some of its assets back home, including its 30% minority stake in Hulu.

Analysts report Comcast has lost interest in the streaming venture because the cable company will face a permanently-reduced say in the venture after Disney completes its acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which controls 30% of Hulu. After the dust settles, Hulu will be 60% owned by Disney, 30% by Comcast and the remaining 10% held by AT&T, as part of its merger with Time Warner (Entertainment).

Originally formed in 2007 as an almost equal partnership between Disney, Comcast, and Fox, Hulu provides a controlled streaming platform for ABC, NBC, and FOX shows. Originally offering free, ad-supported access to recently aired network programs, Hulu has since grown dramatically under a subscription model, deepening its catalog of TV shows and movies and launching original content. In the last year, it launched its own cable-TV replacement service, offering streaming live television. Hulu is estimated to have 20 million paid streaming subscribers and an additional 1 million are signed up for Hulu with Live TV.

If Disney takes control of Hulu, CEO Bob Iger claims it will operate independently of Disney’s own, forthcoming subscription streaming service, set to debut in 2019. Iger said Disney may offer bundled discounts if customers subscribe to both Hulu and Disney’s own streaming service.

A large number of Hulu customers are willing to pay $4 more per month to banish advertisements from the streaming service’s growing catalog of content.

Hulu, a partnership between Fox, Comcast-NBC, Disney, and Time Warner, Inc., has more than 20 million paid subscribers, and around 40 percent pay $11.99 for the ad-free version of the service. Fox CEO James Murdoch told Recode he believed the ad-avoiding crowd had grown to represent 50% of Hulu’s subscriber base, but insiders later corrected Murdoch, claiming more than 60% still pay $7.99 a month for the ad-supported tier.

Hulu says its customers are getting ad loads “less than half that of traditional television” on its $7.99 plan, according to CEO Randy Freer.

More mysterious — how many customers are willing to pay $40 a month for Hulu’s Live TV service. Hulu isn’t saying.

Fierce Cable notes CBS All Access has also had success getting subscribers to pay $9.99 a month for an ad-free experience — $4 more than its standard $5.99 subscription price. CBS claims about one-third of its 2.5 million customers choose ad-free viewing.

CBS has been criticized for loading considerably more advertising content into shows than its rivals, which may have irritated enough customers to upgrade.

Joe Ianniello, chief operating officer at CBS, said the more subscribers are willing to pay for CBS All Access, the more leverage CBS gets forcing cable and satellite providers to pay more for the right to carry CBS affiliated television stations on their lineups.

“When the consumer is making the choice to pay $10 a month, that speaks volumes and that gives us a lot of strength when we go into those negotiations because we know that the consumer has knowingly elected to pay that. They’re not being subsidized by advertising, or subsidized in big bundle cable package; they chose to do that so that gives us a lot of confidence when we head into those revenue negotiations,” Ianniello said during CBS’ most recent earnings call.