Hayu review: Is the reality TV streaming service any good?

Hayu launched in Australia back in 2016 and essentially is to reality TV junkies what Shudder is to horror fans - a mecca of all your guilty pleasures. Think Real Housewives, Kardashians, Million Dollar Listings and Top Chef. Basically, if you’re only keeping your Foxtel subscription for the Fox Arena channel, you can cancel it, because Hayu has you covered.

While the overall pitch for Hayu isn't all that different to something like Netflix. It does lack a few of the usual features, such as 4K playback or a kids mode.  The former isn't a surprise, given that most reality TV isn't broadcast or available in such a high quality format, nor is the latter, given the nature of the content offered by Hayu. Still, if you're looking for areas where more specialised subscription service from something with a more broad offering, they aren't hard to find.

Fortunately, offline viewing is supported. Those with an active Hayu subscription can download and save anything offered by the service to watch at a later date using the app. However, you cannot stream Hayu in multiple locations from the same account. For now, the service only supports one stream at a time.

Sure, Hayu isn’t everyone’s thing, but at $7.99 per month with a generous 7-day free trial, it’s a killer deal for lovers of trash like myself. For comparison’s sake, Netflix will set you back from $7.99 per month, Stan from $12 per month and Disney Plus from $13.99.

Take a look at the table below to see how Hayu stacks up against the competition:

Hayu is home to just over 350 titles, so it certainly doesn’t have the largest library in the world. That said, given the long-running nature of most reality series, there are plenty (we’re talking thousands) of episodes to keep you going.

If, like me, you love nothing more than watching grown women with obscene amounts of money fight over who said what behind who’s back, Hayu is heaven. It’s got every Real Housewives franchise from Atlanta to Vancouver, though you will need to keep that Binge subscription if you’re a devotee of the Aussie series, The Real Housewives of Melbourne. Though the god-awful and mercifully short-lived Sydney spin-off is available on Hayu. 

Continuing the theme of dropping in on the lives of the ridiculously wealthy, you’ve also got access to all 19 seasons of Keeping up with the Kardashians, not to mention the many, many spin-offs.

For real estate junkies, Million Dollar Listing will have you lusting over eye-wateringly expensive properties in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and San Francisco. Doesn’t hurt to dream, right?

You’ll also find the likes of Top Chef, Below Deck and Vanderpump Rules, not to mention a bunch of true crime titles such as In Ice Cold Blood, Buried in the Backyard and 21 seasons of Snapped.

As much as I unashamedly love the shows that a Hayu subscription gets you access to, there’s one thing I’m not so keen on - the mobile app. I tried it on both iOS and Android, and while the iOS one was clunky but usable, I never managed to get it working on Android.

If you’re running into the same problem, you can simply watch directly on the Hayu website, otherwise, there are also apps available for Apple TV, Chromecast with Google TV, Amazon Fire TV, Fetch TV, Telstra TV and most Android smart TVs. Having spent a longer time than I’d like to admit struggling with the mobile apps, the Chromecast with Google TV was a joy to use.

If you're keen on tuning into Hayu's library of reality TV hits but less than thrilled with the idea of installing another app, you can subscribe to the service via Amazon Prime Video Channels.

Prime Video Channels are an optional add-on for Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service which allow you to bundle additional content from other streaming services into your Amazon Prime Video subscription, including Hayu.

Subscribing to Hayu via Amazon Prime Video Channels will cost you the exact same amount as subscribing to the service directly would: $7.99 per month. Check out the table below for a sense of how the price of Hayu compares the rest of the Amazon Prime Video Channel lineup.