Abby Jackson

Hulu will add more subscribers in the second half of the year than it did in the first half, CEO Randy Freer said Business Insider's IGNITION Conference in New York on Tuesday.

"We think the live TV market is robust," Freer said. "DirecTV Now announced their numbers in 3Q. We grew 10x of where DirecTV was. We'll have our best October, our best November."

DirecTV, which is owned by AT&amp;T, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/att-third-quarter-2018-results-analysis-2018-10?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="9be342c0-b846-3819-a153-80c157a88ae7"> reported </a> that it added 49,000 new subscribers in the third quarter. Hulu's live TV offering launched in 2017 and added 3 million this year through May, to top 20 million subscribers. At that rate, his comment suggests that Hulu will have more than 23 million subscribers by the end of the year.

Freer said he's optimistic about the opportunity to grow the business, while the industry should focus on profitability.

"I think we all have to ultimately run a business that can turn profit," he said. "We closed the gap on margin from where we started by 50%, and we see that continuing. Our ad revenue has grown north of 50% over the last year."

Looking ahead, Freer said live sports will be on Hulu's radar.

"We're a subscription driven business, and we know over history that sports has a tendency to drive subscriptions," Freer said. "We will certainly be evaluating sports as an opportunity and hopefully be at the table when the time comes."

<h1> You can watch the whole interview here &amp;gt;&amp;gt; </h1>

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'The live TV market is robust': Hulu CEO Randy Freer talks about accelerating subscriber growth and profitability at the company

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg has been running the company for just four months, but he's already brought seismic changes to the company.

In November, Vestberg reorganized the business that was split between wireless and wireline businesses and created three main business segments: Verizon Consumer Group, led by Ronan Dunne; Verizon Business Group, led by Tami Erwin; and Verizon Media Group, led by Guru Gowrappan.

Speaking at Business Insider's IGNITION Conference in New York on Tuesday, Vestberg explained the impetus behind the change.

He called it a "logical and natural step in order to leverage all of the best assets we have in Verizon which is the network, the distribution, and our brand."

A change for a company of Verizon's size, with roughly 160,000 employees and 150 million customers, required conversations with "tremendous" amounts of internal executives and shareholders, Vestberg said.

And much of the change leads back to Verizon's network and the company's plans for 5G. Vestberg started at Verizon in April 2017 as chief technology officer. The business reorganization was the natural next step after the work that the company has put into place to transform its network, he said. Verizon's 5G network will spur innovation around the world, according to Vestberg.

"There are three and a half billion people having a smart phone today," he said. "It's the biggest mass market of electronic devices that you’ve ever seen in mankind."

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Ericsson Chief Executive Officer Hans Vestberg speaks at a news conference in Stockholm January 30, 2014. REUTERS/Jessica Gow/TT News Agency

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg explains the company's massive reorganization

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Abby Jackson

Articles written by the author

'The live TV market is robust': Hulu CEO Randy Freer talks about accelerating subscriber growth and profitability at the company

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg explains the company's massive reorganization