Watching Hulu From Around The World Hulu started in May, 2007, and has become popular quickly, even adding twice as many subscribers as Netflix in 1Q 2019 and 30.4 million paid subscribers by the end of 2019. Hulu means “Gourd” in Mandarin Chinese, but is only available in U.S. and Japan. With a US Hulu gift card and VPN, it can be watched around the world.