Variety: Hulu’s ad-free tier hasn’t hurt its advertising business, according to CEO Mike Hopkins. Instead, Hulu has actually seen its ad business grow 30 percent since launching the ad-free option in September 2015, he said. Having the ad-free option has helped the company to grow its user base: “There are ad-avoiders and ad-accepters,” he added, noting that ad-avoiders previously also steered clear of Hulu altogether. Now, these users are subscribing.