Hulu to offer a total of seven original shows in the next year

As expected, Hulu made its presentation to advertisers during upfronts this week, in a tradition that used to be limited to the conventional TV networks. While Hulu is still happy to stream those networks’ content to its two million subscribers, it knows that original content is potentially much more lucrative. To that end, Hulu unveiled four new shows to go along with the three it had already discussed for a grand total of seven original series for the online video service. As TechCrunch reports, the four new shows include “We Got Next,” “Flow,“ the return of ‘Don’t Quit Your Daydream,” and lastly “The Awesomes.” Although that final show isn’t expected to come out until 2013, it’s notable because it will star well-known SNL alumnus Seth Meyers.

Seven shows out of the 1,900 television series that Hulu offers may seem like a drop in the bucket, but in the broadcast and cable world it often only takes one or two hit shows to lift a network. With Netflix and YouTube also working hard to get professional, original content, it seems like all the major players are betting that making online video a bit more like traditional TV will lead to profits.