Only Murders In The Building could remain on both ABC and Hulu simultaneously according to Deadline. The Hulu original series which stars Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place, Spring Breakers, Only Murders in the Building), Steve Martin (The Jerk, Roxanne, Father of the Bride), and Martin Short (Three Amigos, Father of the Bride, Innerspace) was originally released exclusively on Hulu but now finds a home on linear television on the streamers sibling linear network ABC.
The decision to have the series air on ABC came as a result of the writer and actor strikes that occurred last year in Hollywood. Due to the lack of production of the scripted content during this time, ABC had a largely unscripted fall slate. The move was originally meant to be temporary, but it’s success could make the series stay longer on the network.
The move to add the series onto linear television proved to be a successful one as reflected by positive viewer engagement related to the decision. Increase in both first streams by Hulu users and hours streamed have experienced positive growth since the move to ABC. First streams increased by 40% and hours streamed rose by 39%.
When speaking at the TCA press tour, ABC and Hulu boss Craig Erwich spoke about the series’ move to linear television; “We’re certainly open to doing it with Only Murders again and or other shows. When we look at both ABC and Hulu, it’s one big chessboard, so you’re able to see where certain audiences watch certain shows, some migrate from one platform to another. Only Murders was really a perfect show to put on ABC, not only did we know that not a lot of people had watched it yet, as popular as it is, which is hard to believe, but Only Murders has that broad, comedic, aspirational tone and quality that I think aligns very well with the ABC brand.”