Hulu

Hulu rolling out new redesign on Google TV and other platforms with sidebar navigation

Ben Schoon | Mar 31 2023 - 11:17 am PT

Hulu has just confirmed the launch of a brand new redesign for its TV interface that finally brings sidebar navigation to Google TV, Apple TV, and other platforms.

If you’ve booted up the Hulu app on your TV platform of choice today, you might have noticed things look a little different. Hulu is rolling out, quite widely, we might add, a new interface for its various smart TV apps.

The new update for Hulu finally brings sidebar navigation to the service’s TV app, something that’s because commonplace across Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and other competing streaming services. Hulu welcomes new users to the redesigned UI with a prompt at the first startup that offers a brief explanation of what’s new.

The new sidebar in Hulu’s TV app includes the following sections:

Home
TV
Movies
Sports
News
My Stuff
Hubs
Settings

All of these options existed in the previous Hulu app, but were found within a lengthy list on the homescreen, without any separation between the various sections. In playing around with the new update on Google TV, we found that it’s much easier to find what we’re looking for, especially when it comes to getting back to the “My Stuff” watchlist.

While this update doesn’t appear to be available to all users just yet, Hulu has confirmed that it’s rolling out to TechCrunch. The company says the updated UI technically started rolling out yesterday, but will be available to Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, and others. As mentioned, we’re seeing it on Google TV (which means Android TV is also getting it). Our Kyle Bradshaw also reports seeing it on a Samsung Smart TV. Hulu says that LG Smart TVs and Vizio TVs will also get the update “in the coming months,” but we’d take that with a grain of salt – the company also included Android TV and Samsung TVs in that same list, and those are live now.