Hulu has been on the rise, but sadly in limited regions. As of 2023, Hulu is only available in the United States, Japan, and Puerto Rico. And Hulu libraries of these 3 countries are region-restricted as well.
So, Hulu’s US library is not available in Japan, Puerto Rican content gets restricted to Puerto Rico’s audience, and Hulu’s Japanese titles are only accessible in Japan.
These restrictions are only fair because it’s nearly impossible to get streaming licenses for everything in every country, especially when Hulu is up against giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
That said, everyone knows the workaround.
Get a good VPN for streaming, and you can access almost everything.
However, what doesn’t have a workaround is Hulu’s outage.
When Hulu is down, there’s nothing viewers can do except wait.
Is Hulu Down Right Now?
Depending on your region, Hulu may or may not be down now.
Hulu’s streaming services are available in the USA, Japan, and Puerto Rico. Because each of these countries has its server, if Hulu is unavailable in one region, it is not necessarily unavailable in another.
A global Hulu outage rarely happens.
Moreover, since Hulu has a site and apps for Android, iOS, and Windows, it sometimes happens that the website is working, but the app is experiencing issues, and vice versa.
But the most common issue reported is with Video Streaming, as the screen goes pitch black with audio and subtitles working fine.
Here’s a list of issues that can help you determine why Hulu is not working for you.
Why Is Hulu Down?
There are plenty of reasons behind Hulu’s interruptive streaming. While one is entirely out of the users’ hands, something can be done in other cases to get it back up.
Here’s a list of reasons why Hulu might not be working.
1. Poor Internet Connection
First and foremost, make sure your internet is working. Slow or unstable internet can cause problems with streaming. Even if other websites seem to be working fine, restarting your internet router is a good idea to free up streaming protocols.
2. Clear Browser Cache/ Try Another Browser
If you’re streaming on Hulu’s website, sometimes issues can arise because of corrupted cache files that pile up in your browser. So, clearing your browser history, cookies, and cache can also sort out these problems.
Trying a different browser is worth a go too. If you’re using Chrome, switch to Firefox and try again.
3. Clear App Cache/Restart Device
Like with the browser, cache files can also accumulate in the Hulu app. Whether you’re using it on Apple TV, iOS, or Android devices, clearing the cache or restarting it will sometimes sort out the issues.
4. Outdated App
This is another reason to worry for app users.
If you’re using an outdated/older version of the Hulu app, you’re bound to experience different problems with your streaming. If you don’t keep your Hulu app up to date, you might lose connection suddenly, miss content, or have trouble streaming.
5. Hulu is Down/Viewers Overload
If you didn’t encounter any errors, your app is up to date, and your internet is working just fine; there’s only one reason why Hulu is not working-
Hulu is down.
By the end of 2021, Hulu was hosting 99.7 million users. And around 35 million users access Hulu from unsupported countries using a VPN.
That’s a lot of viewers, and sometimes it gets too hot to handle for Hulu’s servers. And that’s when the website or the app can crash. Usually, the website comes back up within minutes, but it can sometimes take longer as well.
And if this is the case, you can only contact Hulu’s customer support, inform them of your problem, and wait until the issue gets resolved.
However, there’s one more scenario- Hulu is down, but in your region only.
Because there are specific servers for every region, Hulu can be down in one region and working perfectly in another. So, you can try accessing Hulu with a VPN.
Watch Hulu With VPN
Use a VPN to access Hulu from anywhere in the world. Connect to Hulu via a different server.
Watch your favorite shows easily, even if Hulu is down in your region.
We recommend NordVPN and ExpressVPN as the best VPNs to watch on Hulu.
All you have to do is –
- Get NordVPN or ExpressVPN.
- Connect to the fastest available servers or any server you want.
- Watch your favorite show on Hulu!
Before you launch Hulu, make sure your VPN is turned on.
How To Check If Hulu Is Down?
Using an outage monitoring website is the best way to determine whether Hulu is down. These websites track other websites in real-time to detect their outages and other problems.
Down Detector is one of the best website outage trackers right now –
- Open Down Detector.
- In the search bar, type the platform/website name you want to check.
- Hit Enter.
If Hulu is down, you’ll see “Problems at Hulu.” And if it’s working fine, you’ll see something like “no current problems at Hulu.”
You can also see a chart showing when users reported issues with Hulu and from which region.
Moreover, Down Detector also highlights the problems users are having. It will tell you whether only the Video Streaming is down or the whole Website is having issues. And they recently added the Hulu App Tracker as well.
Lastly, if you are experiencing issues with Hulu but Down Detector gives an “all-good,” you can also report the problem. Doing so won’t solve the issue, but it’ll help others know about it.
But if you’re not interested in all that and want a simple yes or no, try IsItDownRightRow.
How Long Is Hulu Going To Be Down?
That depends on where the problem is. Hulu could be down because of problems with Hulu’s network, servers, and services. Or, Hulu might not be working due to issues on the viewers’ end.
And depending on where the problem is, it could take a few minutes before Hulu starts working, or it could be days before you can stream anything.
If The Problem Is On Hulu’s End
Behind the scenes, there are tons of pieces falling into place for you to stream and enjoy Hulu’s massive content library.
Hulu uses a mix of Internet Service Providers(ISPs) and dedicated servers to provide a smooth streaming experience. Sometimes, their servers could be down, and other times, the ISPs might face connectivity issues.
When that happens, the service is down.
There is nothing you can do in this situation except wait. And there’s no telling how long Hulu is going to be down.
Usually, when a major issue like this arises, the news is shared on Hulu’s official Twitter.
But there could be a problem on your side.
If The Problem Is On The Viewer’s End
Most of the time, Hulu is down because of errors on the users’ side. If you see any of the following errors, Hulu is up and running, and the problem is on your end.
- Trouble Opening the Hulu app
- Hulu Protected Content Errors
- Hulu Outages and Error Code BYA-403-007
- Hulu Error Code 3 and 5
- Hulu Error Code 16 and Invalid Region Messages
- Hulu Error Code 400
- Hulu 500 Error
- Hulu Error Code 5003
- Hulu Error Code DRMCDM78
- Hulu Error Code P-DEV323
- Hulu Error Code P-EDU103
- Hulu Error Code PLRUNK15
- Hulu Error Code PLAREQ17
- Hulu Error Code PLAUNK65
- Hulu Error Code RUNUNK13
If your Hulu streaming is interrupted by any of these errors, fix these, and your streaming will resume.
Is Hulu down? How to find out if it is? And what can you do about it? We hope this guide answers all these questions.
Also, check out our other guides if your Hulu keeps freezing or your Hulu recordings don’t show up.
